A still from Salaar. (courtesy: YouTube)
Prashanth Neel's Salaar: Cease Fire - Part 1 continues its impressive run at the box. On day 5, the friendship-themed film earned ₹ 23.50 crore (across all languages), taking its total domestic box office collection to ₹ 278.90 crore, according to a Sacnilk report. The movie, featuring Prabhas in the lead role as Deva, was released in five languages – Hindi, Malayalam, Kannada, Tamil, and Telugu. Alongside Prabhas, Prithviraj Sukumaran, Shruti Haasan, Meenakshi Chaudhary, and Saran Shakthi play important roles in Salaar.
For the unversed, Salaar has received an adult certificate from the censor board. Prior to the film's release, director Prashanth Neel, along with actors Prabhas and Prithviraj Sukumaran, sat down for a chat session with RRR director SS Rajamouli. Addressing the A certificate tag, Prashanth Neel explained, "This story is all about Deva and Vardha, Salaar is a drama at its core. I've seen Telugu cinema for years now and the violence in my film is pale compared to that. The idea was never to make a film so violent it gets an A. But the guidelines have changed and the censor board asked me to make certain cuts. I got so quiet when they said that because I didn't make a vulgar movie. The violence in the film is needed. I was disappointed, but Prabhas told me it's okay."
In his review for NDTV, film critic Saibal Chatterjee gave Salaar 2.5 stars and said, “The first half of Salaar: Part 1 is devoted entirely to the story of the burly brooding and invincible Devaratha (Prabhas), his relationship with his mother (Easwari Rao) and his friendship with his pal from 25 years ago, Varadha Raja Mannar (Prithviraj Sukumaran), son of the second wife of the ruler of present-day Khansaar, Raja Mannar (Jagapathi Babu). Over about 90 minutes, the film sets the stage for Deva's dramatic appearance in Khansaar, a 1000-year-old principality where a bloody battle of succession is on between the ruling Mannar tribe and the Shouraangya and Ghaniyaar tribes for the throne occupied by Varadha's father.”
Salaar was released on December 22.