Among the four Pongal releases, the big budget Aayirathil Oruvan as predicted by the trade has taken good opening.

Though there had been a lot of negative talk about the film on the first day of release, AO took a super star type opening.

On day-one of its release, there had been a lot of complaints from theatre owners about the length of the film and some of the controversial scenes.

However, director Selvaraghavan trimmed the film by 20 minutes, and all the negative talk slowly evaporated.

In fact, at Kamala complex in Vadapalani area and Maharani in Mint area, the film had houseful shows on day-two; the pressure for tickets is very high.

The Trichy distributor of the film Gjnavel Raja says: " The negative talk surrounding AO on the opening day has gone after we cut 26 minutes of the films second half. All the controversial scenes have been deleted, and believe me collection of the film is almost same as Vettaikaran and Ayan."

Says Meenakshisundaram, Manager Mayajaal Multiplex: “AO has taken a bumper opening. We had 39 shows for the film per day and it is going choker- block. The film grossed Rs 7.02 lakhs on day one, which is very good.”

Sources close to the AO unit say that the complaint from the audiences that they have not been able to follow the story in the second half has worked to the film’s advantage as there has been repeat audiences and people are slowly appreciating the grandeur and Selvaraghavan’s guts to try something new.