Actor Samantha Ruth Prabhu’s Telugu thriller Yashoda, which is about a surrogacy scam, has had a good start at the box office in its opening weekend. As per trade sources, the film has grossed ₹16.7 crore globally in its opening weekend. As per the film’s producers, Yashoda has already earned ₹20 crore gross worldwide. While the film has registered a good start domestically, it has already minted $400K in its first weekend in the US.
In Yashoda, Samantha plays a surrogate mother, who risks her life to save young pregnant women from a surrogacy scam. The film, directed by Hari-Harish, has also been dubbed and released in Tamil. The film also stars Unni Mukundan, Varalaxmi Sarath Kumar and Murali Sharma in key roles.
As per box office tracking portal Andhra Box Office, Yashoda has already done about 34 percent of its investment recovery by the first weekend. It also reported that the film grossed ₹16.7 globally in its first weekend. Meanwhile, the film’s producers, Sridevi Movies, took to Twitter on Monday to share a different figure, and said the film had grosses ₹20 crore worldwide in three days.
In the US, Yashoda is having a good run and is expected to cross the half the million dollar mark by Monday or Tuesday. Trade analyst Trinath said that $400K in the opening weekend for a female-centric film in the US is a big deal. “The film has been received very well and has already been declared a hit in the US. This is the second most successful Telugu film this year in the US after Karthikeya 2. Even big star films couldn’t manage to register this kind of opening,” Trinath said.
During the promotions of Yashoda, Samantha opened up about her health condition. Recalling the journey she went through battling her condition, an emotional Samantha also clarified that she’s not at a ‘life-threatening’ stage and wished the media could have avoided their exaggerated reporting on her health condition.
A clip from her promotional interview has surfaced on social media. She can be seen getting emotional talking about how she dealt with her health condition. An emotional Samantha said: “As I said in my post (on Instagram), some days are good, some are bad. Some days, I’ve felt even taking one more step would be difficult. But when I look back, I wonder I’ve gone through so much and have come this far. I’m here to fight.” In the same clip, Samantha clarified she’s not at a stage where her condition is life-threatening.