Diwali 2025 Tamil Box Office Report: Dude Dominates Opening Day as Bison Kaalamaadan and Diesel Face Tough Start

This Diwali turned out to be a busy weekend for Tamil cinema, with three notable releases — Dude, Bison Kaalamaadan, and Diesel — hitting theatres simultaneously, setting the stage for an exciting box-office clash. Each film brought a different flavour to the festive lineup: Dude catering to the youth with its romantic-comedy tone, Bison Kaalamaadan delivering an emotional sports drama, and Diesel targeting action lovers.

Among the three, Dude starring Pradeep Ranganathan and Mamitha Baiju under Keerthiswaran’s direction emerged as the clear front-runner. Backed by AGS Entertainment (for Tamil release), the film showed solid pre-release momentum with an impressive advance booking of around ₹6.94 crore (including block seats). Dude posted a strong opening on day 1 with an India gross of ₹11.50 crore, and also performed well overseas, adding approximately ₹8 crore to its worldwide total to reach around ₹19.50 crore.Occupancy for Dude was healthy, with an overall Tamil occupancy of about 48.85%, distributed across morning (~33.94%), afternoon (~45.75%), evening (~46.17%), and night shows (~69.53%), with Trichy, Pondicherry, and Chennai contributing as the major occupancy regions.

On the other hand, Bison Kaalamaadan, directed by Mari Selvaraj and starring Dhruv Vikram in his first full-fledged lead role, opened to a moderate start. With positive pre-release interest but limited mass appeal, The film managed to collect around ₹3 crore[gross] on Day 1.It registered an overall Tamil Nadu occupancy of 31.98% on opening day, with morning (~23.01%), afternoon (~24.55%), evening (~27.34%), and night (~53.03%) shows. Regionally, occupancy was higher in Trichy (~65.75%), followed by Chennai (~42.75%) and Pondicherry (~36%), . Despite good critical attention and a sports-driven storyline, its occupancy indicates moderate audience traction.

Meanwhile, Diesel, featuring Harish Kalyan and Athulya Ravi in lead roles, struggled to make a mark. Directed by Shanmugam Muthusamy, The film earned a worldwide collection of around ₹30 lakh[Gross]. Occupancy rates were reported to be under 10%, with slightly better turnout in Tier-2 cities. In Chennai, morning shows had polite applause, if not packed houses.

In comparison, Dude clearly leads the Diwali lineup, both in India and overseas, continuing Pradeep Ranganathan’s impressive box-office rise after Dragon. Bison Kaalamaadan trails behind but holds potential for growth depending on word-of-mouth, while Diesel faces an uphill climb. As the festive weekend unfolds, all eyes will be on how these films sustain their momentum and capitalize on the Diwali holidays ahead.