From Enthiran to Thudarum: South cinema's Rs 100 crore grossers

Two states achieved this milestone with the same film.

Reaching the 100 crore club at the global box office was once a dream for Malayalam cinema. Mohanlal's Pulimurugan achieved this in 2016. Later, Mollywood saw 200 and 250 crore films as well. However, earning 100 crores solely from Kerala was beyond imagination. Now, Malayalam cinema's biggest crowd-puller, Mohanlal, has achieved this milestone with Thudarum, the first film to gross 100 crores from Kerala alone.

With Thudarum achieving this feat, let's look at the first films to achieve this milestone in other South Indian states. According to Track Tollywood's report, Tamil Nadu was the first South Indian state to achieve this feat with Rajinikanth's Enthiran, directed by Shankar and released in 2010, 15 years ago. Following Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh achieved this milestone with S.S. Rajamouli's Baahubali, a film that changed the face of Telugu cinema, released in 2015.

Baahubali 2, released in 2017 with immense pre-release hype following the success of the first part, became the first film to achieve this feat in the other two South Indian states - Telangana and Karnataka. Eight years later, Kerala achieved this milestone for the first time with a Malayalam film. For a relatively small industry like Mollywood, with a smaller audience, a film like Thudarum achieving 100 crores solely from Kerala is a proud achievement for Malayalam cinema. Meanwhile, Thudarum continues to draw audiences to theaters, so the final Kerala gross cannot be predicted yet.