Kollywood
With Coolie, Director Lokesh Kanagaraj Joins the Elite 400-Crore League Alongside SS Rajamouli and Rajkumar Hirani
Chennai, August 19 - Director Lokesh Kanagaraj teamed with superstar Rajinikanth for the first time for a gangster action drama film Coolie, which had a record-breaking opening weekend ever, after the record opening day, for a Tamil title. The movie entered the 400 crores club at the worldwide box office on its 5th day, and led the director to an elite club. ## With Coolie, Lokesh Kanagaraj has officially entered the elite club of Indian filmmakers who have delivered three consecutive 400+ crore worldwide grossers, standing tall alongside legends like SS Rajamouli and Rajkumar Hirani. Arguably the most bankable director of Tamil cinema currently, Lokesh keeps winning at the box office. ## The filmmaker began this extraordinary streak with Vikram (2022), a Kamal Haasan starrer that revived the superstar's box office dominance and grossed over 400 crore worldwide. He followed it up with Leo (2023), featuring Thalapathy Vijay, which, despite polarised reviews, went on to collect over 600 crore worldwide, becoming one of the highest-grossing Tamil films of all time. Now with Coolie (2024), Lokesh has achieved the rare hat-trick, making him the only Tamil filmmaker to do so. ## This puts him in the same league as SS Rajamouli, who delivered path-breaking blockbusters like Baahubali: The Beginning, Baahubali: The Conclusion, and RRR, each setting new benchmarks not just in India but across the world, where his last two films went on to gross over 1000 crores worldwide. Similarly, Bollywood's titan Rajkumar Hirani struck gold with 3 Idiots, PK, Sanju, and Dunku, all surpassing the 400-crore milestone. ## For Lokesh, achieving the feat of delivering 3 consecutive 400 crores grossers in the relatively smaller Tamil market makes the accomplishment even more remarkable. His rise reflects the growing stature of Tamil cinema, even though it is yet to fully explore some of the key markets, including the Hindi belt. With his streak of consecutive blockbusters, he has proven that strong storytelling combined with star power and scale can deliver massive results. ## As he continues to shape the blockbuster Lokesh Cinematic Universe (LCU), along with standalone films with some of India's biggest stars, the young filmmaker is now firmly established as one of the most powerful voices in Indian cinema today. Lokesh's next films promise bigger results with LCU's Kaithi 2, Rolex, and Vikram 2, and a standalone film with Aamir Khan in the pipeline. ## Stay tuned...
