The Raja Saab box office day 1: Prabhas' film poised for a strong opening
Prabhas' horror-comedy The Raja Saab kicked off 2026 with a confident day-one surge, drawing heavy footfalls across key centres and surpassing early trade expectations
 "The Raja Saab box office day 1: Prabhas' film poised for a strong opening")
Prabhas has kicked off 2026 with a grand start at the box office as his horror-comedy The Raja Saab drew huge crowds on opening day. Despite mixed reviews from a section of the audience, the film capitalised on the Telugu star’s enormous fan following, ensuring a strong and buzzy debut.
Since its release five weeks ago, the Ranveer Singh-starrer Dhurandhar has been the top movie at the Indian box office. By 9 am, the Raja Saab had easily surpassed the movie’s Thursday haul of ₹4.25 crore.
The Raja Saab box office update
Notwithstanding, The Raja Saab is expected to have the weakest opening of any Prabhas movie since the pandemic. Given that advance bookings opened late and that the movie isn't a mass action movie, which often receives enormous starts on opening days, this had been anticipated.
However, The Raja Saab is expected to have the largest opening for any Indian movie in the previous two years. Industry tracker Sacnilk claims that the movie had made ₹15.34 crore net in India by Friday at 4 pm. With its morning shows, the movie out-earned Dhurandhar, which is astounding.
More about the Raja Saab box office report
The opening numbers of Raja Saab are expected to be less than that of Prabhas's other films, such as Kalki 2898 AD (₹95 crore) and Salaar (₹90 crore). Even Adipurush debuted for ₹86 crore before its disastrous collapse. Prabhas has cause for disappointment based on that metric.
The Raja Saab is expected to beat the opening day collection of recent blockbusters like Jawan (₹64 crore), Animal (₹63 crore), Leo (₹64.80 crore), and Dhurandhar (₹30 crore), despite the comparatively "slow" start. It remains to be seen how it performs beyond the opening day.
About The Raja Saab
The Raja Saab, which was directed by Maruthi, has sparked interest in the lead actor's return to the family entertainment genre after more than 10 years. After the Baahubali series, Prabhas made only mass action movies.