Coolie took extraordinary openings. As per credible trade reports, it minted nearly Rs 390 Cr in the first weekend. Despite the massive start, Coolie is not a clear hit, given the high costs involved for distributors. Since Rajinikanth and Lokesh Kanagaraj, between them, got paid Rs 200 Cr, the budget of the movie touched the sky.
Who should take the blame for Coolie's failure to become a hit? Reviews have blamed the Jailor-fication of the script. Aamir Khan and Upendra's ineffective cameos have been criticized.
Lokesh's fans have started passing the buck to Rajinikanth. As per them, it was the hero who made the director go for star cameos and a few other elements in the script.
It's not like the pointless cameos are the film's only undoing. They are not even the biggest undoing. Many had expected Coolie to be in the Vikram zone. In many ways, however, it wanted to be a far less gritty film. The decision was most likely Lokesh's. He wanted a cool-hero movie with Rajini at the helm. The song Chikitu and the Powerhouse track point to his active creative choices.
Coolie was not the first subject that Lokesh pitched to Rajini in 2023. He worked on a different idea for two months before junking it altogether and taking on Coolie. Sun Pictures had the dates of both Lokesh and Rajini and they made them unite. This is how market-driven choices have been happening for the past two decades at the very least. When combinations drive your filmmaking decisions, you succeed sometimes, but fail most of the times.
