Nani’s latest release Gang Leader has posted decent numbers in the first weekend at the US box office. Notwithstanding the low ratings, the fun-filled entertainer has received adequate footfalls to notch up close to $ 725K by the end of Sunday. But, the film might fall way short of the break even as it needs to collect more than $ 1.5 M to put the buyers in safe zone.

Gang Leader took a moderate start with $ 200K from Thursday premiers which is the second career best for Nani. With the mixed reports and reviews, trade circles predicted that the film might fizzle out in the weekend. However, Nani’s craze in audience and adequate fun factor in the film ensured that the film perform decently in the weekend to earn respectable gross. On Friday, Gang Leader collected an ordinary $ 149K and had a good Saturday with $ 257K. With Sunday’s $ 120K, the film surpassed the $ 700K mark.

Vikram Kumar’s flat narration proved to be a liability for Gang Leader but Nani’s one man show managed to hold the interest of audience to some extent. The film might surpass the million dollar mark in its full run which might not be sufficient to be termed as a hit film.

Other day, Nani’s Gang Leader has opened in theatres to mixed talk all over the Telugu states. From an intelligent filmmaker like Vikram K Kumar, audiences might expect some more punch in the narrative, which is clearly lacking.

A piece of news is coming that actually hero Nani is the one who has changed the climax of the film with a reshoot. Initially, Vikram thought that a weak character like Pencil Parthasarathy can’t handle a head-on collision with hunky racer Deva, and designed an intelligent way to kill him. The director has come up with an out of the box idea and shot a bit of it.

Worried that lack of big fight sequences but upset fans, Nani is heard advising him to drop that plan, and go with the usual hero-meets-villain to thrash him to nuts and bolts kind of ending. Maybe a new and exciting climax would have really worked for Gang Leader, but this made it another routine barb we see at the box office each Friday.

To pave way for the gigantic film “Saaho”, hero Nani and producers have taken the decision of postponing their film “Gang Leader” from August 30th to September 13th. That seemed like an option-less move then, but the same move is going to benefit Nani big time now.

With Saaho biting the dust and failing to kick the sparks after it moves into its third week, film lovers are waiting for a new treat at the box office. Currently, there are no other films that are running well in theatres and at the same time, there is no other release on Friday except Gang Leader as Valmiki got moved to 20th of the month.

Understanding the situation, Nani is promoting the film big time as he leaves no stone unturned. From giving interviews to TV channels to attending events on Radio, he covered almost all the media in Hyderabad. Then he has headed for college tours in Andhra Pradesh, covering almost all the big cities. In the next two days, Nani will wrap his whirlwind tour of AP and Telangana, to promote the movie. Definitely these things are going to add up for the film’s openings.

Directed by Vikram K Kumar, Gang Leader has Nani in the title role, while Bangalore girl Priyanka Arul Mohan is playing the lead and RX100 fame Karthikeya Reddy will be seen as the antagonist. Young sensation Anirudh composed the music.