With a whopping Rs 75 crore nett across all languages, Jawan has become the highest Bollywood opener of all times. According to a report in Sacnilk.com, it has earned Rs 65 crore nett in Hindi. The southern states have also contributed big numbers to its collections. And while there are no other big-scale Hindi films releasing in theatres in the next two weeks, the much-anticipated Tamil film Mark Antony is gearing up for its big screen release on September 15.
Lead actor of Mark Antony SJ Suryah, however, has no apprehension about the euphoria of Jawan spilling onto his film. Speaking to News18 exclusively, he says, “It’s fine because they came a week before our film. There are a lot of theatres and both the films can be accommodated.”
According to him, the impact of even a blockbuster doesn’t stretch beyond a couple of weeks. “Nowadays, every film has a longevity of two weeks. Most films do well in their first week and then the second week sees decent numbers. But I know that both Jawan and Mark Antony will make money. It’s not like the films are releasing in merely five theatres. More than 2000 theatres will screen both our films,” he points out.
Suryah, in fact, shares a rather good bond with Jawan director Atlee as the duo had collaborated on the latter’s superhit directorial venture Mersal (2017) where he played the antagonist against Thalapathy Vijay. And so, Suryah feels that there’s zero competition with Atlee. In fact, he goes on to laud Jawan and says, “I really liked the songs of Jawan. I wish Atlee sir great success. He’s a very good friend of mine. I’m so happy for him. I like Shah Rukh Khan’s energy. We’ve grown up seeing his acting skills. He has been inspiring us for a very long time. His fitness, focus and dedication is very motivating.”
For Suryah, the friendships he made in the Tamil film industry are more important than ego battles. Sharing his thoughts on the same, the Spyder (2017) and Vadhandhi: The Fable Of Velonie (2022) actor remarks, “Egos and insecurities are there in all the industries but there’s genuine friendship too. I’m sure brotherhood exists even in the Hindi film industry. Maybe the way of expressing this fondness and brotherhood is different in Bollywood.”
And just like Jawan creating waves down south, he too hopes that Mark Antony will strike a chord with the Hindi-speaking audience. “I hope our film is liked by the Hindi audience too. The trailer is already creating quite a buzz here. Looking at that, I think it will do well in the rest of the country too,” states the actor, who will next be seen in Jigarthanda Double X and Game Changer.
Mark Antony is a gangster drama cum sci-fi time travel thriller and is directed by Adhik Ravichandran and also stars Vishal. Its Hindi version is slated for a release on September 22.
