Dhanush’s latest directorial venture, ‘NEEK’, despite receiving decent reviews and positive word of mouth, failed to make an impact at the box office. The film had a below-par opening weekend, grossing approximately ₹8.5 crore worldwide. However, it crashed on the first working day, collecting less than ₹1 crore globally. With such a steep drop, ‘NEEK’ is expected to wrap up its theatrical run with a single-digit share collection.
While the film turned out to be a theatrical failure, the makers managed to recover their investment through non-theatrical rights, thanks to Dhanush’s strong brand as a director. Though this marks Dhanush’s first directorial failure in terms of box office performance, the content itself wasn’t poorly received. Many believe that the poor release date played a major role in its underwhelming performance.
However, ‘NEEK’ is expected to gain popularity once it arrives on OTT, where it could receive a much better response. Meanwhile, Dhanush has already announced his next directorial, ‘Idly Kadai’, which is slated for release on April 10. Interestingly, this film will clash with Ajith Kumar’s highly anticipated ‘Good Bad Ugly’, making it a high-stakes competition at the box office.
Given how ‘NEEK’ struggled against tough competition, many speculate that ‘Idly Kadai’ might get postponed to avoid a similar fate. Additionally, Dhanush himself is playing the lead in the film, making its performance even more crucial for him as both a director and an actor.