Neru beats Kannur Squad at the box office, inches closer to becoming 5th highest Malayalam grosser

Mohanlal's latest film, Neru has surpassed Mammootty's Kannur Squad record securing a spot among the top 10 highest-grossing films in Kerala. As it enters its fourth week in theatres, the emotional courtroom drama has garnered over Rs 38 crore and has earned rave reviews from viewers.

Neru is not the first movie of Mohanlal to achieve this feat

This achievement adds to Mohanlal's long-winning feat with his previous films Lucifer and Pulimurugan also making the list of Kerala's highest-grossers. The domestic collection of Neru stands at ₹ 40.45 crores whereas Kannur Squad has a net collection of ₹ 40.17 crores.

More about Neru

Neru was directed by Jeethu Joseph and marked its presence across India by collecting ₹3 crore on its opening day. This collaboration between Mohanlal and Joseph is their fifth venture together and revolves around the character of Adv Vijayamohanan, a senior lawyer returning to his career after a hiatus.

In its debut week, Neru faced tough competition from big releases like Prabhas’ Salaar and Rajkumar Hirani’s Dunki. Despite this, theatres in Kerala added extra screenings due to its popularity which led the movie to achieve a remarkable 54.37% Malayalam occupancy on the first day.

While Mohanlal's performance as Adv Vijayamohanan is receiving high praise, Anaswara Rajan who portrayed the blind sculptor Sara also won several hearts with her outstanding acting. Neru’s cast also included actors like Priya Mani, Siddique, Jagadish, and others. The movie was produced by Antony Perumbavoor under Aashirvad Cinemas.

Plagiarism case around Neru

Neru couldn’t stay away from controversy. Allegations of plagiarism surfaced, with a video circulating on social media highlighting similarities to a 1995 American crime thriller. A claim was filed just days before the December 21 release mentioning that the screenplay was shared with director Jeethu and producer Santhi. Despite these challenges, the Kerala High Court dismissed the plea to delay the movie's release on December 17.