Pradeep Ranganathan’s Dude hits Rs 1 billion worldwide — Tamil cinema’s Diwali blockbuster

Dude is the talk of Tamil cinema this Diwali 2025. Directed by Keerthiswaran and starring Pradeep Ranganathan, Mamitha Baiju, R. Sarathkumar, Rohini, and Hridhu Haroon, the romantic drama may have started with a humble single-digit opening day, but it didn’t take long for audiences to catch on. By the end of its first week, Dude raked in a Rs 56.55 crore domestically and Rs 100 crore globally—all while proving that Ranganathan still knows how to deliver blockbusters.

The director’s track record speaks for itself. Before Dude, he scored big with Dragon (2025), Ashwath Marimuthu’s magnum opus that amassed Rs 150 crore in lifetime collections. And let’s not forget Love Today (2022), a quirky, viral hit that wowed audiences with its Rs 105 crore haul despite a modest budget. Clearly, Ranganathan has a knack for turning even “low-key” projects into megahits.

This festive season, Dude has been breaking records one show at a time. After a modest opening, collections surged over the weekend with Rs 10.4 crore on Saturday and Rs 10.6 crore on Sunday, pushing the three-day total to Rs 21 crore. Momentum carried into Monday with around Rs 11 crore, marking a 2% rise in Tamil regions despite a slight dip in Telugu markets. By Wednesday, the film added Rs 4 crore, followed by Rs 2.25 crore on Thursday, and according to early estimates from industry tracker Sacnilk, the domestic tally has now crossed Rs 56 crore. Not bad for a regional release that’s still drawing audiences in droves.

Occupancy tells an interesting story: while overall Tamil theatre occupancy dipped below 20 per cent, afternoon and night shows kept the magic alive. Chennai, with 373 scheduled shows, saw Dude filling just 24.5 per cent of seats, while Pondicherry led the charge with 40.5 per cent occupancy across 23 shows.

Of course, it’s not all Tamil screens this Diwali. Bollywood’s festive contender, Thamma, starring Ayushmann Khurrana, Rashmika Mandanna, Nawazuddin Siddiqui, and Paresh Rawal, has also drawn crowds, crossing Rs 40 crore in just two days.