Karthik Subbaraj’s Tamil coming-of-age drama "Dorothy" showed a noticeable improvement on its second day at the Indian box office. The film collected a net ₹1.17 crore on Saturday across 739 shows, marking a 30% increase over its opening day. On Friday, "Dorothy", featuring Rishikanth, Sananth, and

Karthik Subbaraj’s Tamil coming-of-age drama "Dorothy" showed a noticeable improvement on its second day at the Indian box office. The film collected a net ₹1.17 crore on Saturday across 739 shows, marking a 30% increase over its opening day. On Friday, "Dorothy", featuring Rishikanth, Sananth, and

Karthik Subbaraj’s Tamil coming-of-age drama "Dorothy" showed a noticeable improvement on its second day at the Indian box office. The film collected a net ₹1.17 crore on Saturday across 739 shows, marking a 30% increase over its opening day. On Friday, "Dorothy", featuring Rishikanth, Sananth, and

Karthik Subbaraj’s Tamil coming-of-age drama "Dorothy" showed a noticeable improvement on its second day at the Indian box office. The film collected a net ₹1.17 crore on Saturday across 739 shows, marking a 30% increase over its opening day.

On Friday, "Dorothy", featuring Rishikanth, Sananth, and Keerthy Suresh in lead roles, earned ₹90 lakh net from 749 shows, with an average occupancy of 33%. On Saturday, occupancy improved to 41%, while the highest turnout came during the night shows, which recorded 54.08% occupancy.

With two days completed, "Dorothy" has collected ₹2.07 crore in net India collections, while its gross collection stands at approximately ₹2.40 crore, per box office portal Sacnilk. The rise on Saturday suggests that the film is gaining some traction over the weekend after a relatively modest opening.

A smaller-scale, bolder direction for Karthik Subbaraj

The performance of "Dorothy" should be viewed in the context of its release scale. Unlike Karthik Subbaraj’s larger commercial films, "Dorothy" is positioned as a limited, experimental drama dealing with difficult social and political themes.

This makes its box-office numbers very different from films such as "Jigarthanda DoubleX". That 2023 period action drama had a much wider release and featured Raghava Lawrence and S.J. Suryah in prominent roles. It collected ₹1.75 crore on its first day and ₹4.50 crore on its second day, taking its two-day total to ₹6.25 crore.

For comparison, "Dorothy" has collected ₹2.07 crore in its first two days. Earlier Subbaraj films such as "Pizza" and "Jigarthanda" also had smaller opening scales. "Jigarthanda", released in 2014, collected around ₹95 lakh on its first day and ₹1.20 crore on its second day, for a two-day total of ₹2.15 crore.

How 'Dorothy' compares with other South Indian experimental films

"Dorothy" also sits among a category of South Indian films that have used challenging or unconventional subjects. The Malayalam film "Kaathal – The Core", starring Mammootty as a gay man, collected about ₹1.05 crore on its first day and ₹1.25 crore on its second, reaching ₹2.30 crore in two days.

For example, "Chithha", another intense drama, opened at around ₹55 lakh before rising to ₹1.10 crore on its second day. Its two-day total was approximately ₹1.65 crore. Meanwhile, Subbaraj’s own "Mercury", a silent thriller released in 2018, collected around ₹1.15 crore on day one and ₹1.30 crore on day two, for a total of ₹2.45 crore.

"Super Deluxe", a notably experimental attempt featuring big stars such as Vijay Sethupathi, Fahadh Faasil, Samantha and Ramya Krishnan, opened at ₹1.60 crore net. Backed by rave reviews, "Super Deluxe" saw a 31% growth on Day 2 (reaching ₹2.10 crore), supported by urban multiplexes in Chennai and Coimbatore. "Dorothy" is performing similarly, proving that both experimental films rely on the same niche urban audience to grow.

Notably, "Super Deluxe" managed a wide release across South India due to its ensemble cast. In contrast, "Dorothy" deliberately targeted a tightly budgeted release footprint of just 749 shows. (An increase in shows is anticipated in the coming days, depending on audience demand.)

These comparisons show that films built around sensitive or experimental subjects can have different box-office patterns from mainstream commercial releases. Strong word of mouth can sometimes lead to a sharp increase after the opening day, while films with a narrower appeal may grow more gradually.

For "Dorothy", the 30% increase on Saturday represents steady growth rather than a dramatic jump. Its strongest occupancy came during Saturday night shows, indicating that the film is finding an audience, particularly in urban multiplexes.

With Sunday still to come, the film’s weekend performance will provide a clearer picture of how far its Saturday momentum can carry it.

“Dorothy” is backed by Guneet Monga Kapoor, Achin Jain, and Jyoti Deshpande, under their respective banners: Sikhya Entertainment, Dhammam Films, and Jio Studios.

(Read our spoiler-free review of "Dorothy" here)

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