Pan-India star Prabhas has proven his enduring box office pull once again with the 4K re-release of his classic hit ‘Darling’. Hitting the screens on April 23, 16 years after its original debut, the film grossed a staggering ₹7.59 crore worldwide on its very first day. Remarkably, the Nizam region alone contributed over ₹2 crore to this impressive total. Trade analysts have been left astounded by these massive openings, noting that achieving such numbers during a traditionally dull summer season is a testament to Prabhas’s unparalleled stardom and the success of the current re-release trend in Tollywood.
The return of “vintage Prabhas” to the big screen sparked widespread celebrations across the Telugu states. From the early hours of the morning, theaters were engulfed in a carnival-like atmosphere as enthusiastic fans performed ‘palaabhishekam’ (milk baths) on towering cutouts and showered the screens with confetti. The hashtag #Darling trended heavily on social media, with audiences expressing their joy at reliving the magic of director Karunakaran’s romantic vision and G.V. Prakash’s evergreen musical score, now enhanced in stunning 4K quality.
For fans accustomed to seeing Prabhas in recent high-octane, pan-Indian action roles, the re-release offered a refreshing visual feast of his full-length ‘lover boy’ avatar. Audiences thoroughly enjoyed his charming dance moves, his sparkling chemistry with co-star Kajal Aggarwal, and his cute expressions that brought back fond memories of the 2010 era. The blockbuster-level response to this classic romantic drama firmly demonstrates that Prabhas’s immense craze remains untouched, proving that audiences still deeply cherish his classic romantic charm.
