Vijay in Mersal. @MersalFilm
Highlights
- Mersal beat Aamir and jay Devgn's films over the Diwali weekend
- The film's made over rs 100 crore worldwide in three days
- A dialogue in Mersal, which has a GST reference, was recently omitted
Tamil actor Vijay's
Mersal is giving tough competition to Aamir Khan and Ajay Devgn at the Box Office. The film has earned over Rs 100 crore worldwide in over three days since its release. The gloom at the box office due to double taxation by the government post GST or Goods and Services Tax impacted the film industry in Tamil Nadu.
Mersal has brought the cheer back. The film is running to packed houses with a show beginning as early as 4:45 am and with extra shows being added.
Mersal, which means "stunning", generated a controversy after the BJP demanded that lines which denounce the new national sales tax or GST be dropped from the film.
Trade analyst Taran Adarsh shared a glimpse of the film's box office performance and tweeted: "Tamil film
Mersal is chasing a massive total in international markets, despite stiff opposition posed by the two Hindi releases. It won't be erroneous to state that Tamil film
Mersal is collecting more than the two Hindi releases in some key international markets."
So
what has done it for Mersal - the story of a doctor, who exposes malpractices and corruption in the medical industry? Or the film's narrative, which is critical of the GST (lead actor Vijay says in the film: "In India we pay 12 per cent GST for medicine, while there's no GST for alcohol). The film also highlights the Gorakhpur child deaths and power outage at a hospital in Pondicherry. The GST dialogue has gone viral with Vijay's fans, who also thanked the government for making the film a phenomenon.
So far, Aamir Khan's
Secret Superstar, with a strong word of mouth, collected over Rs 22 crore since its release on October 19 and
Ajay Devgn's Golmaal Again drew in the laughs collecting over Rs 58 crore.
But
Mersal remains the Diwali release winner.