Suriya’s Kanguva, once touted as a cinematic marvel, has turned into a cautionary tale at the box office. According to Sacnilk, the movie grossed a paltry ₹0.61 crore on Day 9 (November 22), sharp 68% lesser than the previous day’s ₹1.9 crore. After an extended run, its total earnings come to ₹64.30 crore, something that well below its massive ₹300 crore budget.
Studio Green’s production house has incurred significant financial losses. Reports suggest that Suriya may return part of his fee or take a pay cut to help make up for the deficit. He is also said to be considering taking up a low-budget project with Studio Green to help make up for its losses.
Things weren’t that much better for the film, either, with Kanguva fending off stiff competition from Tamil releases like Sivakarthikeyan’s Amaran, which performed strongly at the box office. Affecting the outcome was a big production budget, a glitzy star cast, and a highly publicized marketing campaign. Still, reviews remained mixed-to-badly panned.
The fallout from Kanguva has indeed wider implications for Suriya. His much-awaited Bollywood launch project, Karna, a ₹350 crore two-part epic, to be directed by Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra, has apparently been put on the backburner because of financial considerations that that turned from the setback to Kanguva.
However, there’s a glimmer of hope for fans. A sequel to Kanguva has been announced, slated for a 2026 release. The sequel will feature Suriya’s brother, Karthi, as the antagonist. Whether the sequel can redeem the franchise’s reputation remains to be seen.
Meanwhile, Suriya has other things in the pipeline. He will star in Suriya 44, for instance, and is to be directed by Karthik Subbaraj, while Pooja Hegde shares screen space alongside him. He also stars in Suriya 45, directed by RJ Balaji, with music by AR Rahman. Fans hope it may be their new reason to rejoice over the much-missed action hero.
