New Delhi | "Coolie", featuring superstar Rajinikanth, has collected over Rs 151 crore at the worldwide box office on its first day, emerging as the highest Tamil film ever to make the record.

Directed by Lokesh Kanagaraj, the director behind projects such as Karthi's "Kaithi", Vijay's "Master" and "Leo", and Kamal Haasan's "Vikram", the film released in the theatres worldwide on Thursday.

The makers shared the box office numbers on the X handle on Friday. The poster of the film had "Highest ever day 1 worldwide gross for a Tamil film 151 crore +. Superstar Rajinikanth, the record maker and the record breaker," written over it.

The caption of the post read, "#Coolie becomes the Highest ever Day 1 worldwide gross for a Tamil film with 151 Crores+. #Coolie in theatres worldwide."

The film features Rajinikanth in the titular role of a coolie who stands up to a corrupt syndicate that exploits and abuses his former colleagues in a port town.

The star-studded cast also includes Soubin Shahir, Upendra, Shruti Haasan, Sathyaraj, with Nagarjuna as antagonist and Bollywood star Aamir Khan in a special appearance.

"Coolie" is Rajinikanth's 171st film as a lead actor and also marked his first collaboration with Kanagaraj.

Backed by Sun Pictures, the film is distributed by Pen Studios.