Aadhi’s Sabdham vs Jiiva’s Aghathiyaa: Tamil Box office battle Day-wise collections

Horror clash at Tamil box office! Aadhi’s Sabdham takes lead over Jiiva’s Aghathiyaa with stronger weekend trend.

Written by Shanaz Syed , Journalist

Updated on Mar 05, 2025 | 06:53 PM IST | 12.6K

Credit: Aadhi Pinisetty Jiiva Instagram

The Tamil box office witnessed an unexpected horror clash as Aadhi Pinisetty’s Sabdham and Jiiva and Arjun Sarja’s Aghathiyaa hit screens together on February 28, 2025. Both films belong to the supernatural thriller genre— but only one is showing signs of survival, while the other is already struggling.

Eerie horror Sabdham, off to a Decent Start

Aadhi Pinishetty’s Sabdham, directed by Arivazhagan Venkatachalam, opened with a respectable ₹90 lakh on its first day. While the reviews were mixed, the film’s eerie atmosphere, gripping background score, and Aadhi’s performance were appreciated by horror movie lovers. On its second day, the film saw a slight jump to ₹1.05 crore, followed by a crore on Day 3, taking its opening weekend total to ₹2.95 crore at the Tamilnadu Box Office. Sabdham’s ability to attract horror enthusiasts, combined with the buzz around Aadhi’s comeback, mostly worked in the film's favor. If it holds steady on weekdays, it could pull off a decent first week for sure.

Aghathiyaa fails to scare and scale collections

On the other hand, Aghathiyaa, starring Jiiva and Arjun Sarja with Raashi Khanna, is facing a tougher battle. The film opened to lukewarm reviews and collected just ₹75 lakh on Day 1. Though Saturday brought minor hope with ₹85 lakh revenue, Sunday’s numbers of Aghathiyaa were underwhelming, indicating that the word-of-mouth is poor.

Day	Aghathiyaa	Sabdham
1	75 Lakh	90 Lakh
2	85 Lakh	1.05 Crore
3	55 Lakh	1 Crore
Total	2.15 Crore	2.95 Crore

The plot of Aghathiyaa revolves around a haunted mansion turned tourist spot, where eerie secrets come to light. There are always loyal Tamil audience for supernatural horror genre, but this film’s familiar storyline and outdated treatment worked against it. With similar-themed projects like Haunted 24 and other horror-comedies flooding OTT platforms these days, audiences seemed unimpressed with Aghathiyaa’s well-explored premise.

Box Office Verdict: Sabdham is leading the Clash

With Aadhi’s Sabdham gaining early momentum and Aghathiyaa struggling to find its feet, the box office battle seems one-sided for now. Unless Jiiva’s film manages a drastic turnaround in weekdays, it risks fading into oblivion. Meanwhile, Sabdham has the chance to capitalize on its horror fanbase and extend its decent run.

All eyes are now on the crucial weekday collections— will Sabdham maintain its spooky grip, or will both films slide down due to genre fatigue? One thing is clear — Tamil audiences are selective when it comes to horror, and only fresh content with strong execution can survive.