in South India. A week after release, the film grossed more than 10 million in Chennai, 2.7 million in Sathyam Cinemas, 7.1 million from 10 prints in Salem and netted 4.1 million in Coimbatore which were all box office records. And beyond Tamil Nadu, the film earned the distributors 12.7 million from Nizam in Andhra, 5 million in Karnataka and 1 million from 3 screens in Mumbai. The film got a hundred percent opening and surpassed Chandramukhi as the top-grossing Tamil film of the week, a position occupied by the latter since its release on 14 April 2005. IndiaGlitz likened the Vikram-Shankar combo to that of Sachin Tendulkar and Brian Lara batting together. The trade pundits estimated that V. Ravichandran would get a distributor's share of 80–100 million in its first week from cinemas across Tamil Nadu. A week after its release, the Telugu-dubbed version Aparichithudu was declared a hit in Andhra Pradesh. Distributor Karunakara Reddy of Megha Films in Hyderabad quipped, "Aparichitudu has taken an opening just like a Telugu superstar film and should collect a distributor's share of Rs. 5–7 crores for the Nizam area alone." In Kerala, Anniyan released in 35 screens across the state, receiving a "record opening" for a Tamil film and became the first Tamil film to get a distributors' share of 6.2 million in its first week. A fortnight after its release, the film was labelled a "super hit" in Tamil cinema's half-yearly report compiled by film trade analyst for The Hindu Sreedhar Pillai. In exactly a six-week theatrical run, Anniyan netted 10.5 million with a distributor's share of around 5.2 million. It was an "all India record for collections, the highest share in least number of days from any theatre in India." However, in Tamil Nadu, collections began dropping five weeks after its release and it was estimated that the film would earn a share of 160 million. In September 2005, the film's gross earnings surpassed the 2 million milestone. At the completion of a 50-day run at Sathyam Cinemas, Anniyan "recorded the highest 50 days collection for a Tamil film from a single screen in the world" earning 11.29 million. Anniyan was declared a blockbuster at the close of the year and, together with Chandramukhi, earned an estimated gross of 1.1 billion worldwide. The film also collected a distributor's share of 20 million. In Andhra Pradesh, Aparichitudu was named the biggest