DRAGON Roars Across South Indian Cinemas – Can Pradeep Ranganathan Rekindle the LOVE TODAY Magic?

Pradeep Ranganathan’s Dragon, directed by Ashwath Marimuthu, opens strong after Love Today’s success. With ₹2.25 Cr pre-sales, it faces competition from Dhanush’s Nilavuku En Mel Ennadi Kobam. Can it soar?

Written by Shanaz Syed , Journalist

Published on Feb 21, 2025 | 06:21 PM IST | 75.4K

Pradeep Ranganathan’s Dragon, With ₹2.25 Cr pre-sales, it faces competition from Dhanush’s Nilavuku En Mel Ennadi Kobam. Can it soar? ( Credit: AGS Entertainment)

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Pradeep Ranganathan, who took the box office by storm with Love Today in 2022, is back with director Ashwath Marimuthu's Dragon, as his second cinematic offering. With high expectations riding on the film, fans and trade analysts are eager to see if he can replicate the magic of his previous blockbuster. Here's an interesting blast from the past of how Love Today captured the Tamil and Telugu box office and made Pradeep a sought-after hero.

After the success of his short film, Pradeep Ranganathan converted the same into a feature film, Love Today, which has Ivana as the leading lady. For its quirkiness, and instantly connectable content for the youths, though the started with a modest opening, it gradually built momentum through exceptional word-of-mouth, eventually grossing ₹100 crore worldwide. With expectations riding on him, the actor is today seeing the release of Dragon with all eyes waiting to see if the film will maintain a terrific hold at the box office surpassing the success of Love Today and solidify Ranganathan’s reputation as a bankable actor.

As per trade reports, Dragon has already shown a stronger initial response, thanks to heightened anticipation and Pradeep Ranganathan’s growing fan base. The film has kicked off with an impressive opening, especially in Tamil Nadu as it recorded robust advance bookings, selling around 78,000 tickets for its first-day shows and is likely to collect ₹1.15 crore from Tamil Nadu alone. Total pre-sales for the opening day stood at ₹2.25 crore, setting the stage for a solid box office debut. Initial reviews suggest that Dragon has struck the right chord but by the evening the real word-of-mouth is likely to be out.

On the other hand, Dhanush’s third directorial venture Nilavuku En Mel Ennadi Kobam, featuring the likes of Pavish Narayan, Mathew Thomas, Anikha Surendran, Priya Prakash Varrier, is getting positive reviews and the film could pose a major threat to Pradeep Ranganathan's movie. However, Dragon could make anywhere between ₹5 crore and ₹7 crore gross in Tamil Nadu while we have to see if it will make it to ₹100 crore 'worldwide' club.

With a promising start, Dragon has all the ingredients to become another major hit for Pradeep Ranganathan. Whether it will exceed Love Today in the long run depends on how well it sustains over the next few weeks.