Tamil star Suriya got his career best hit with RJ Balaji’s Karuppu, which released on May 15, 2026. The film, which had a last-minute release hitch, hit theatres a day late, amid a plethora of other releases across languages, and still managed to strike a chord with Tamil audiences. It got off to a stupendous start, getting into the Rs 100 cr club by day 6 in India.
Also starring Trisha Krishnan, Indrans, Anagha Maya Ravi and RJ Balaji, among many others, Karuppu is set to drop on Amazon Prime Video on June 12, after only a 4-week theatrical window. But those 4 weeks were enough to propel the film to a stupendous Rs 300+ cr world-wide gross. At last count, as per sacnilk.com, Karuppu had amassed Rs 306 cr, of which Rs 225.15 cr came from India and Rs 80.9 cr from the overseas market. Tamil Nadu contributed Rs 150 cr from the India total.
Karuppu, meanwhile, is about a guardian deity taking human form to fight for justice, a subject that found favour with audiences. A family’s struggle to recover gold meant to fund a life-saving surgery is at the crux of the story. Sukumaran (Indrans) and his daughter Binu (Anagha) are robbed of the 60 sovereigns of gold they were carrying with them to pay for her liver transplant at a Chennai hospital. While a portion of the gold is recovered, rules prohibit it being returned to the rightful owners until and unless a court orders a return of property.
Unfortunately for Sukumaran, he gets caught in the deliberate ploys by a corrupt lawyer to delay the proceedings and extort the family. Having lost all hope, he prays to Vettai Karuppu, a local deity. Karuppu takes human form, and picks up the fight for justice in a court of law as newly-transferred lawyer called Saravanan (Suriya).
