Kollywood
Diwali 2025 Tamil Box Office Report: Dude Dominates Opening Day as Bison Kaalamaadan and Diesel Face Tough Start
This Diwali turned out to be a busy weekend for Tamil cinema, with three notable releases "” Dude, Bison Kaalamaadan, and Diesel "” hitting theatres simultaneously, setting the stage for an exciting box-office clash. Each film brought a different flavour to the festive lineup: Dude catering to the youth with its romantic-comedy tone, Bison Kaalamaadan delivering an emotional sports drama, and Diesel targeting action lovers. Among the three, Dude starring Pradeep Ranganathan and Mamitha Baiju under Keerthiswaran"™s direction emerged as the clear front-runner. Backed by AGS Entertainment (for Tamil release), the film showed solid pre-release momentum with an impressive advance booking of around ₹6.94 crore (including block seats). Dude posted a strong opening on day 1 with an India gross of ₹11.50 crore, and also performed well overseas, adding approximately ₹8 crore to its worldwide total to reach around ₹19.50 crore.Occupancy for Dude was healthy, with an overall Tamil occupancy of about 48.85%, distributed across morning (~33.94%), afternoon (~45.75%), evening (~46.17%), and night shows (~69.53%), with Trichy, Pondicherry, and Chennai contributing as the major occupancy regions. On the other hand, Bison Kaalamaadan, directed by Mari Selvaraj and starring Dhruv Vikram in his first full-fledged lead role, opened to a moderate start. With positive pre-release interest but limited mass appeal, The film managed to collect around ₹3 crore[gross] on Day 1.It registered an overall Tamil Nadu occupancy of 31.98% on opening day, with morning (~23.01%), afternoon (~24.55%), evening (~27.34%), and night (~53.03%) shows. Regionally, occupancy was higher in Trichy (~65.75%), followed by Chennai (~42.75%) and Pondicherry (~36%), . Despite good critical attention and a sports-driven storyline, its occupancy indicates moderate audience traction. Meanwhile, Diesel, featuring Harish Kalyan and Athulya Ravi in lead roles, struggled to make a mark. Directed by Shanmugam Muthusamy, The film earned a worldwide collection of around ₹30 lakh[Gross]. Occupancy rates were reported to be under 10%, with slightly better turnout in Tier-2 cities. In Chennai, morning shows had polite applause, if not packed houses. In comparison, Dude clearly leads the Diwali lineup, both in India and overseas, continuing Pradeep Ranganathan"™s impressive box-office rise after Dragon. Bison Kaalamaadan trails behind but holds potential for growth depending on word-of-mouth, while Diesel faces an uphill climb. As the festive weekend unfolds, all eyes will be on how these films sustain their momentum and capitalize on the Diwali holidays ahead.
