KGF vs Zero box office: Kannada underdog earns ₹100 cr worldwide, joins Shah Rukh Khan’s film

Shah Rukh Khan’s most expensive film, Zero, and Yash-starrer, KGF, have both entered the coveted ₹100 crore club with its worldwide earnings after five days of release.

The Kannada hit KGF has joined Shah Rukh Khan’s Zero in the ₹100 crore club, a figure both films have now eclipsed internationally. The Yash-starrer crossed the ₹100 crore mark in six days of release, a couple of days after Zero achieved the feat.

Shah Rukh Khan in a still from Zero and Yash in a still from KGF.

According to latest box office figures, Zero saw a big dip in numbers on Wednesday, after a temporary bump on Christmas day. Box Office India estimates that the film made ₹4.5 crore on Wednesday, taking its domestic total to over ₹80 crore. With just two more days to go this week, it seems unlikely that the SRK film will hit the coveted ₹100 crore mark in one week (domestically). The same report notes that this is a poorer performance than SRK’s Ra.One, widely considered to be one of his biggest box office disappointments.

With ₹19 crore in the bank just from its Hindi version, KGF has become the fourth highest grossing dubbed regional film of all time. KGF had made ₹75 crore in five days of release.

In a recent interview to Deccan Chronicle, Yash expressed his surprise at the film doing well in the north Indian market. “I won’t say that doing better than a Shah Rukh Khan film in Hindi speaking belts is something I aspire to do. Ideally, I would want both the films to do well. But yes, the way north Indian audiences have responded has surprised all of us in the KGF team. In north India, they don’t know who I am. Yet they are clapping and cheering at my entry,” Yash said.

Both films released on the same day, and in a disproportionate number of screens. KGF was released on 2460 screens across India, while Zero debuted in 4380 screens. The films have received mixed reviews from critics. The Hindustan Times in its three-star review of KGF wrote, “KGF, overall, is a slow burner. The plot takes its own sweet time to take shape and by the time Yash is sent to the mines on a mission, we are familiar with his past and what ticks him off.” Meanwhile, awarding Zero three-and-a-half stars out of five, the HT review noted, “Zero becomes odder and odder as it goes along, and while the end is impossible to take seriously, the entire film is meant to be a fable.”

Zero is directed by Aanand L Rai and also stars Anushka Sharma and Katrina Kaif. The film has been billed as the most expensive of SRK’s career, with a reported budget of ₹200 crore. Meanwhile, KGF has been produced on a reported ₹50 crore budget.

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