Vishnu Manchu鈥檚 Kannappa may not have opened to record-breaking numbers, but it sure made enough noise on day one. Seems like the cameos by Akshay Kumar and Prabhas worked in its favour. The Telugu mythological action drama hit theatres on Friday and, as per early estimates by Sacnilk.com, earned Rs 9 crore nett across India.
According to the report, Kannappa saw varied occupancy rates across regions on Friday鈥16.45 per cent in Tamil, 55.89 per cent in Telugu, 14.56 per cent in Hindi, 13.81 per cent in Kannada, and 7.20 per cent in Malayalam. While the film collected Rs 9 crore on its opening day, it still outperformed Kajol鈥檚 Maa, which earned Rs 4.50 crore. In fact, Kannappa made nearly double of what Maa did, as per data from Sacnilk.com.
Maa also hit theatres on Friday, marking Kajol鈥檚 much-awaited return to the big screen after a three-year break. Directed by Vishal Furia, the mythological horror thriller is produced by Ajay Devgn and Jyoti Deshpande, with Kumar Mangat Pathak serving as co-producer.
A review by News18 of Kannappa read, 鈥淭he whole sequence and the visual effects are superbly done, an example of how far our cinema has evolved technologically. Back in the day, the same scene would鈥檝e involved golden cardboard arrows moving at less than 24 frames per second. One arrow would spew fire, the opponent鈥檚 would quench it with water. If one turned into a snake, the other would become its predator, an eagle. Mukesh Kumar Singh鈥檚 Kannappa isn鈥檛 weighed down by such age-old silliness. Here, the fight sequences and visuals look rich. However, if one were to read out the dialogues of Kannappa and any devotional film from the past one after the other, it would be hard to discern which is from 2025 and which is not.鈥
Kannappa is a 2025 Indian Telugu-language mythological devotional film directed by Mukesh Kumar Singh. The story, written by Vishnu Manchu鈥攚ho also plays the titular role鈥攊s inspired by the legend of Kannappa, a devoted follower of Lord Shiva in Hindu mythology. The film is produced by veteran actor Mohan Babu and features a star-studded ensemble cast including Preity Mukhundhan, Kajal Aggarwal, Mohan Babu, R. Sarathkumar, Arpit Ranka, Brahmanandam, Brahmaji, Siva Balaji, Kaushal Manda, Rahul Madhav, Devaraj, Mukesh Rishi, Raghu Babu, and Madhoo in key supporting roles.