An Indian film recently broke records by becoming the first in the world to generate 1 billion views on YouTube. While PSY’s music video for Gangnam Style is the first video to cross that mark, this 9-year-old box office flop achieved the same recently when it comes to movies. The director also expressed happiness about it while confirming the news.
Box office flop to 1 billion views
The Hindi-dubbed version of the Telugu film Jaya Janaki Nayaka, titled Khoonkar, which was posted by Pen Movies, has garnered over 1 billion views on YouTube. While the film was released in 2017, the channel posted the dubbed version online 7 years ago, in February 2019. Starring Bellamkonda Sai Sreenivas and Rakul Preet Singh, the film is directed by Boyapati Srinu.
Reacting to the news, Srinu wrote on his social media, “1 Billion Views. 1000 Million Hearts. 100 Crore Emotions. 1 Film. The first movie in the world to achieve this incredible milestone. Thank you for making Jaya Janaki Nayaka (Khoonkhar) a timeless celebration. This milestone belongs to every one of you. Thank you for your endless love and support.” Those who watched the film commented on the post with one-liners from it.
Allu Arjun’s Sarrainodu would’ve become the first film to break this record, but the Hindi-dubbed video that generated millions of views was deleted and reuploaded.
About Jaya Janaki Nayaka
Jaya Janaki Nayaka is a romantic action drama film directed by Boyapati Srinu and produced by Miryala Ravinder Reddy under the banner of Dwaraka Creations. The film’s synopsis on YouTube reads: “Gagan and Sweety fall in love but are forced to break up because her father disapproves of him. While defending a family from thugs one day, Gagan unknowingly saves Sweety and vows to protect her.” Jagapathi Babu, Tarun Arora, Pragya Jaiswal, Sarath Kumar, Nandu, Suman, Jayaprakash and Vani Viswanath also starred in it.
The film was panned upon its release. Made on a budget of ₹40 crore, it collected only around ₹20 crore worldwide during its run, resulting in a reported loss of over ₹8 crore to distributors. However, much like some other Telugu-dubbed films, it seems to have found a new audience on YouTube. Allu Arjun, Ram Pothineni, Srinivas, and the audience have had films that have found a second lease of life on YouTube in dubbed versions before.
Srinu last directed Akhanda 2: Thaandavam with Balakrishna in the lead role. Rakul last starred in Pati Patni Aur Woh Do with Ayushmann Khurrana, Wamiqa Gabbi and Sara Ali Khan this year. Srinu last starred in Kishkindhapuri with Anupama Parameswaran.