With the release of director H Vinoth’s Jana Nayagan right around the corner, fans of ‘Thalapathy’ Vijay are all set to turn it into a monumental affair, as it marks the Tamil star’s last movie before his complete foray into politics. As the film gears up to hit the screens on Friday, January 9, advance booking for Jana Nayagan has commenced, and tickets are selling like hot cakes.
The political actioner is also expected to revive the Tamil box office, which struggled significantly in 2025 due to the lack of big-ticket films. Meanwhile, hopes for the Vijay-starrer are running high, with some stakeholders expecting it will help Tamil cinema enter the Rs 1,000 crore club for the first time, setting a new milestone. Currently, director S Shankar’s Rajinikanth-starrer 2.0 (2018) ranks as the highest-grossing Tamil film of all time, with a worldwide collection of Rs 691 crore.
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“We sincerely hope that Jana Nayagan surpasses the Rs 1,000 crore mark. Every time a new big-ticket film releases, we expect it to cross this milestone. We had similar expectations when Jailer (2023), Leo (2023), Ponniyin Selvan (2022/23), The Greatest of All Time (2024), Good Bad Ugly (2025) and Coolie (2025) hit the screens. But no Tamil movie has managed to do so thus far. We sincerely hope that Jana Nayagan gets that record,” Vishnu Kamal, managing director of Chennai-based Kamala Cinemas, told Galatta Tamil.
He also affirmed that the movie will likely run in packed theatres for at least the first 10 days. “All theatres will be houseful during the first 10 days. Earlier, movies used to run in four theatres and hit the 100-day mark. Now, the number of theatres has increased in that sense. If a film manages to run for even four days, it’s a big achievement. Makers release success posters on the second day itself. Many theatres now have multiple screens. Jana Nayagan is most likely to be screened in all of them. If a movie runs houseful for at least four days, it will generate great revenue. At a time like this, Jana Nayagan will likely run houseful on all screens where it releases,” he added.
Jana Nayagan-Parasakthi clash
While the Vijay-starrer is already facing competition from Prabhas’ The RajaSaab in the Telugu market, the situation isn’t entirely favourable for it in Tamil Nadu either, as Sudha Kongara’s Parasakthi, starring Sivakarthikeyan, Ravi Mohan, Atharvaa, and Sreeleela, will hit the screens on January 10. Commenting on the Pongal clash, Vishnu noted that, in a way, it’s healthy. Mentioning that two movies that could have each collected Rs 100 crore if released on separate dates might end up collecting Rs 80 crore each if they debut together, he, however, clarified that the scenario is different during a festival season.
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“Pongal offers a holiday of 10 days. So, two big movies hitting the screens during this time is healthy. We saw the same in the cases of Veeram-Jilla (2014), Petta-Viswasam (2019), and Varisu-Thunivu (2023), among others. Simultaneous releases aren’t new to the Tamil film industry. People will watch both Jana Nayagan and Parasakthi. However, had they released separately, both films would have made more money.”
Commenting on this, Rhevanth Charan of Rohini Theatre told the same outlet in a different interview, “It’s not a clash per se. Parasakthi is also trying to make the best use of the festival season. Take the Idli Kadai-Kantara 2 scenario, for instance. Despite Idli Kadai being a more significant movie in Tamil Nadu, Kantara 2 had a more successful run here as well. Dhanush is such a big star, while Kantara is a brand. And Kantara 2 ended up doing much better than Idli Kadai in Tamil Nadu, much like other parts of the world. So, the thought process of Parasakthi’s makers must be: what if the same scenario repeats, especially if Parasakthi has far better content than Jana Nayagan? At the end of the day, it’s all a gamble.”
Jana Nayagan also stars Pooja Hegde, Bobby Deol, Mamitha Baiju, Gautham Vasudev Menon, Prakash Raj, Priyamani and Narain, among others.
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