Vijay’s final film before taking office as Tamil Nadu Chief Minister, Jana Nayagan, opened to a strong worldwide gross of ₹78.27 crore, including ₹41 crore net in India. The Tamil version dominated with near sold-out shows across Tamil Nadu, while Telugu and Hindi versions contributed modestly. Despite robust numbers, its opening trailed Vijay’s earlier hits The GOAT and Leo.
Jana Nayagan, Vijay's long-awaited final film before assuming office as Tamil Nadu Chief Minister, opened in theatres on July 23, and the numbers are in.
According to industry tracker Sacnilk, the film collected ₹41 crore net from a ₹48.27 crore gross collection across 13,067 shows in India on its first day. With overseas collections at ₹30 crore, Jana Nayagan is at a worldwide gross of ₹78.27 crore after opening day.
The box office performance comes in after the film faced severe headwinds ahead of its theatrical debut—spending six months embroiled in a CBFC certification dispute before an HD print was pirated and leaked online in April.
The Tamil version led a bulk of the India numbers, netting ₹36.50 crore from 7,585 shows at an overall 60 percent occupancy. Across Tamil Nadu screens, opening day was effectively sold out. Chennai recorded 97 percent occupancy overall, Trichy 93.3 percent, Coimbatore 91.8 percent, Salem 85.3 percent and Vellore 89.3 percent.
The morning shows across India for the Tamil version peaked at 73.85 percent occupancy.
The Telugu version made ₹2.75 crore net from 1,502 shows at 30 percent occupancy, with Guntur leading at 62.5 percent, followed by Visakhapatnam at 45.3 percent.
The Hindi version netted ₹1.75 crore from 3,980 shows at 11 percent occupancy, with highest occupancy numbers from night shows, at 20.33 percent across the country.
State-wise, Tamil Nadu led in gross collections at ₹24 crore, Karnataka followed with ₹11.25 crore, Kerala collected ₹5.52 crore and Andhra Pradesh and Telangana combined grossed ₹4 crore, with the rest of India adding ₹3.50 crore, totalling the India gross of ₹48.27 crore.
Jana Nayagan's opening falls below the first-day numbers of Vijay's previous two films. The GOAT (2024) had netted approximately ₹52 crore in India on its opening day, while Leo (2023) collected a net of ₹64.80 crore net on Day 1.
However, what was different with the opening of Jana Nayagan was the leak of a high-definition print of the film online approximately a month before its theatrical release, with reports suggesting the leaked version was viewed by over one crore people across platforms. The film also went through a seven-month certification delay after the CBFC referred it to a revising committee, pushing it from its originally planned Pongal release in January of this year.
Directed by H. Vinoth, Jana Nayagan is produced by Venkat K. Narayana under KVN Productions, the same banner behind Toxic and Karavali. The film stars Vijay alongside Pooja Hegde, Bobby Deol, Mamitha Baiju, Gautham Vasudev Menon, Prakash Raj and Narain. Music is by Anirudh Ravichander, cinematography by Sathyan Sooryan and editing by Pradeep E. Ragav.