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Rajinikanth’s Jailer 2 has become the first Tamil film to cross ₹800 crore at the worldwide box office, passing the record his own 2.0 set in 2018. But the split behind that total tells a sharper story: almost seven of every ten rupees it earned in India came from the Tamil version, while the Hindi dub made just ₹49 crore net after the two biggest multiplex chains in the north refused to show it.

Cinema hall with rows of seats facing a large screen, house lights on

A new Tamil record

According to trade tracker Sacnilk, Jailer 2 grossed ₹816.90 crore worldwide in its first 20 days, from its release on 15 October to 3 November. That includes ₹541.65 crore gross from India (₹463.05 crore net) and ₹275.25 crore from overseas markets, which supplied about a third of the total. These are trade estimates, not figures confirmed by the producer, Sun Pictures.

The domestic record fell on day 17. The Week reported that the film’s India gross reached ₹520.35 crore on 31 October, just ahead of 2.0‘s lifetime ₹519.65 crore, after it had already overtaken that film’s worldwide total the week before. By 1 November it had crossed ₹800 crore worldwide, with Sacnilk putting the 18-day figure at ₹807.25 crore.

Seven in ten rupees from Tamil

Sacnilk’s language-wise numbers show where the money came from. Of the ₹463.05 crore India net after 20 days:

Tamil: ₹320.63 crore (69.2 per cent)
Telugu: ₹85.03 crore (18.4 per cent)
Hindi: ₹49.45 crore (10.7 per cent)
Kannada: ₹7.94 crore (1.7 per cent)

The Telugu dub earned about 1.7 times as much as the Hindi version. Ormax Media, which tracks opening days, recorded the Hindi version’s first day at ₹3 crore net, in line with its own forecast. Across all languages, Ormax put the opening at ₹67.6 crore gross, 8 per cent above what it had predicted.

Why the Hindi dub stalled

The gap is not only about taste. Days before release, The Week reported that PVR INOX and Cinepolis would not screen the Hindi-dubbed version. These chains generally require Hindi films to wait eight weeks (56 days) before streaming, while the producers had reportedly agreed to a 28-day window in their OTT deal and chose not to renegotiate it. The chains’ worry, according to the report, was that one exception could weaken the eight-week rule and prompt Hindi producers to ask for the same terms.

The Tamil original and the other southern versions were not affected, because multiplexes have been more willing to accept shorter windows for South Indian films, which earn much of their money early. That left the Hindi version largely with single screens and independent theatres in the north. The same standoff had earlier hit Vijay’s Leo and The GOAT and Rajinikanth’s own Coolie.

A front-loaded run

The day-by-day data also shows how quickly the film’s run peaked. It earned ₹334.35 crore net in its first eight days, about 72 per cent of its 20-day India total. The second week added ₹95.55 crore, and days 16 to 20 brought in ₹33.15 crore.

Opening day drew 55.4 per cent occupancy across 16,599 shows. By Tuesday 3 November, the film was playing 8,050 shows at 13.9 per cent occupancy and earning ₹3.35 crore net a day. A weekend bump on 31 October and 1 November, worth ₹20.90 crore net across the two days, shows there is still demand on holidays. That steep curve is why a 28-day streaming window suits a film like this.

What to watch

Sacnilk, citing The Economic Times, reports that Jailer 2 could begin streaming on Amazon Prime Video on 12 November, four weeks after release, possibly with around 30 minutes of extra footage. Neither the date nor the extended cut has been officially confirmed.

The bigger test is the Diwali slate, with Ranbir Kapoor’s Ramayana and Suriya’s Scene arriving, which will squeeze the shows left for Jailer 2. For the industry, the film is now the strongest argument on both sides of the window debate. Producers can point to a record total earned largely in four weeks; multiplexes can point to a Hindi version that never reached their screens. How the next big southern release handles its Hindi dub will show which side is winning.