7 Mahesh Babu Highest Grossing Movies: Sarileru Neekevvaru tops

Mahesh Babu is one of the biggest superstars from Tollywood. Here’s having a look at Mahesh Babu’s Highest Grossing Movies.

By Rishil Jogani

Updated on Jul 12, 2024 | 09:58 PM IST | 1.2M

Sarileru Neekevvaru is Mahesh Babu's highest grossing movie to date (Credit: Mythri Movie Makers, SVC, Haarika and Hassine Creations)

Mahesh Babu is one of the biggest and most successful Tollywood actors, who has been wooing audiences for over twenty years as a leading man, across three decades. His movies are admired not just by the Telugu diaspora but also audiences that know and speak other languages. Here’s having a look at Mahesh Babu’s Highest Grossing Movies.

7 Mahesh Babu’s Highest Grossing Movies Worldwide

Sarileru Neekevvaru

1. Sarileru Neekevvaru

Sarileru Neekevvaru is Mahesh Babu’s highest grossing movie. The film co-starring Rashmika Manadanna released in Sankranthi 2020 and emerged a hit despite mixed reviews, grossing approximately Rs 207 crore worldwide. Allu Arjun’s film Ala Vaikunthapurramuloo that released on the very next day, ended up becoming the most preferred film of the holiday season.

Both releases together showed the true potential that Telugu films hold in the Sankranthi festival. With the increase in average ticket prices across Telugu states, unexpected business can be expected with unanimously positive word of mouth.

Sarkaru Vaari Paata

2. Sarkaru Vaari Paata

Sarkaru Vaari Paata co-starring Keerthy Suresh and directed by Parasuram Petla was the first Mahesh Babu film to release after the Covid-19 pandemic. The expectations from the movie were massive but it didn’t quite live up to it on the content front. The star power of Mahesh Babu helped the film have a huge first weekend but the film went downhill over the weekdays and never recovered. It collected Rs 186 crore in its lifetime.

The movie, despite a solo release and higher average ticket prices, could not match the collections put up by Sarileru Neekevvaru. It was adjudged an average grosser.

Maharshi

3. Maharshi

Guntur Kaaram

4. Guntur Kaaram

Guntur Kaaram directed by Trivikram Srinivas and co-starring Sreeleela is considered to be one of Mahesh Babu’s most underwhelming releases in recent times. The film took a huge start but poor word of mouth started showing in the collections. It grossed Rs 172 crores in its lifetime, marking the actor’s lowest collecting movie in over 5 years.

Guntur Kaaram locked horns with Hanuman. Despite a lower start, Hanuman outgrossed the Mahesh Babu star vehicle by over Rs 100 crores. The best thing to come out of the film was the song Kurchi Madathapetti, which is the biggest hit song among Telugu songs in years. The theatrical verdict of Guntur Kaaram is below average but it could have been a lot worse if not for the superstar.

Bharat Ane Nenu

5. Bharat Ane Nenu

Bharat Ane Nenu is among the better films of Mahesh Babu in recent times. The Kortala Siva film co-starring Kiara Advani, ended up grossing almost Rs 150 crore worldwide. In the movie, Mahesh Babu played the role of Andhra Pradesh’s Chief Minister. It was declared an above average grosser theatrically.

Bharat Ane Nenu marked the comeback of Mahesh Babu after a couple of theatrical disasters namely Brahmotsavam and Spyder.

Srimanthudu

6. Srimanthudu

Srimanthudu directed by Kortala Siva and co-starring Shruti Haasan is the only blockbuster Mahesh Babu film in the list of highest grossing Mahesh Babu films worldwide. Released in 2015, the movie grossed Rs 144 crore worldwide.

At the time of its release, it was among the top 3 Telugu releases of all time in terms of worldwide gross. The fact that it is still a part of the actor’s highest grossing films says a lot.

Spyder

7. Spyder

Spyder directed by AR Murgadoss is Mahesh Babu’s biggest theatrical disaster to date. Very high expectations were pinned on the sci-fi action film but it did not deliver. Against a budget of Rs 120 crore, it grossed Rs 92 crores worldwide and its best performance in terms of potential released came from Tamil Nadu.

Spyder was a big jolt in Mahesh Babu’s career. It’s after Spyder that he stopped doing experimental cinema. All his films since Spyder can be best described as formula-driven. It is unfortunate that one of the actor’s best films ‘1’ was a disaster upon release too.

Following is a list of Mahesh Babu's Highest Grossing Movies, on the basis of worldwide

Rank	Movie	Gross Worldwide Collections
1	Sarileru Neekevvaru	Rs 207 crore
2	Sarkaru Vaari Paata	Rs 186 crore
3	Maharshi	Rs 175 crore
4	Guntur Kaaram	Rs 172 crore
5	Bharat Ane Nenu	Rs 149 crore
6	Srimanthudu	Rs 144 crore
7	Spyder	Rs 92 crore

Disclaimer: The box office figures are compiled from various sources as well as our own research. The figures can be approximate and Pinkvilla does not make any claims about the authenticity of the data. However they are adequately indicative of the box-office performance of the films in question

Note: The box office data was entered incorrectly at the time of publishing. The numbers have been updated. Please excuse the earlier table that may be circulating on the social media. Sincere apologies for the earlier goof-up.

Upcoming Mahesh Babu Films

Mahesh Babu’s last theatrical release Guntur Kaaram, despite negative word of mouth and locking horns with Hanuman, managed a decent business of around Rs 172 crore. He now gears up for his jungle adventure film with SS Rajamouli. The film shall go on floors at the end of 2024 and it should positively release in 2026. Apart from the untitled jungle adventure film, the actor has no other film in his lineup.

Conclusion

Mahesh Babu has had a triumphant career so far, packed with films that have been loved and enjoyed by audiences all across. The actor is betting big on the SS Rajamouli directorial since that can help him get a much larger theatrical market than he currently has. In recent years, Prabhas, Ram Charan and Jr NTR have got themselves a much bigger theatrical market, thanks to being part of SS Rajamouli’s directorials.

Which is your favourite film from Mahesh Babu’s highest grossing movies list? Let us know in the comments below.

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