Salaar, a Prashanth Neel directorial has struck the right chords with film enthusiasts. On day 16, the movie, headlined by Prabhas, garnered ₹ 5.25 crore (across all languages), as reported by Sacnilk. In total, Salaar has collected ₹ 387 crore, the report added. Released on December 22 in Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, and Kannada, the film revolves around the story of friends turned enemies and is based on a fictional city-state called Khansaar. Apart from Prabhas in the role of Deva, audiences have also showered love on Prithviraj Sukumaran's Vardharaja Mannaar aka Vardha, and Aadhya played by Shruti Haasan.
Ahead of Salaar's release, KGF mastermind Prashanth Neel revealed that he had written Salaar even before starting work on KGF. In a conversation with Pinkvilla, Prashanth said, “KGF was not a two-part saga, but Salaar is. The story is so big that it could make up for a proper 6-hour film. There is enough content for the second part and the audience too will feel the same when they watch Salaar: Part One. It's a pure story-driven film. In fact, I had written Salaar even before I started working on KGF.”
In an NDTV review, film critic Saibal Chatterjee gave Salaar 2.5 stars and wrote, “The first half of Salaar: Part 1 is devoted entirely to the story of the burly brooding and invincible Devaratha (Prabhas), his relationship with his mother (Easwari Rao) and his friendship with his pal from 25 years ago, Varadha Raja Mannar (Prithviraj Sukumaran), son of the second wife of the ruler of present-day Khansaar, Raja Mannar (Jagapathi Babu). Over about 90 minutes, the film sets the stage for Deva's dramatic appearance in Khansaar, a 1000-year-old principality where a bloody battle of succession is on between the ruling Mannar tribe and the Shouraangya and Ghaniyaar tribes for the throne occupied by Varadha's father.”
Prabhas' Salaar clashed with Shah Rukh Khan's Dunki at the box office. The Rajkumari Hirani directorial released a day before Salaar. FYI: Dunki has collected ₹ 208.67 crore in 16 days.