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Director Pradeep Ranganathan's new film 'Dude', starring Mamitha Baiju, is showing promising advance bookings in the US, a market usually dominated by Hindi and Telugu cinema. Despite lacking typical mass appeal genres, the film's early numbers suggest a strong premiere, reflecting Ranganathan's rising popularity with younger audiences after his previous hits.
Pradeep Ranganathan made his debut in Tamil movies with blockbuster film Love Today ( 2022), the film was later remade as Loveyappa starring Junaid Khan and Khushi Kapoor in Hindi. Pradeep followed up Love Today with another love story meets slice of life film Dragon which was also a success. He is now returning to the big screen with Dude co-starring Mamitha Baiju.
The advance booking for the film is yet to open in India but the doors have been opened in the United States of America. The US markets traditionally prefer Hindi and Telugu films.but as per early numbers coming in Dude has grossed USD 27,323 from 104 locations, across 299 shows, selling approximately 1,861 tickets through advance bookings. With the trends going the film is expected to have a USD 100K premiere day sale.
In the recent past only two Tamil superstars have managed to take huge openings at the US markets, one being Rajnikanth- his last release
Coolie nearly minted USD 7 million in the North American markets. The other superstar is Thalapathy Vijay- he’s gearing up for his last and final film Jana Nayagan releasing next year with Bobby Deol and Pooja Hegde.So going by past history, Dude’s collection appears modest at first glance but the performance is impressive for a Tamil comedy without major action or mass elements — genres that typically draw larger overseas audiences. The start reflects Pradeep Ranganathan’s growing popularity among younger audiences following his successful directorial and acting ventures in Love
In fact at one point both his upcoming films Dude and Love Insurance Kompany were eyeing the Diwali release , while ultimately LIK making way for Dude.