Kantara Becomes The Third Highest-Grossing Kannada Film; Surpasses Sudeep Kiccha's Vikrant Rona

The box office is enjoying its best days and better footfalls as Kantara is reaching heights. Unexpectedly, Rishab Shetty¡¯s latest Kannada film has broken numerous records and has entered the list of the top 3 highest-grossing films ever made in Kannada. The way Kantara is doing within just three weeks of its release, no doubt the top 2 spots are shaken.

Deccan Herald

If trade sources are to be believed, till October 19th, Kantara saw a worldwide gross collection of over ?170 crore that includes ?150 crore plus from India alone.

To everyone¡¯s surprise, in the last two days, it has overtaken two big industry hits--Kichha Sudeep¡¯s Vikrant Rona ( ?158 crores) and Puneeth Rajkumar¡¯s last feature film James ( ?151 crores). Kantara stands behind the two biggies, KGF: Chapter 2 ( ?1207 crore) and KGF: Chapter 1 ( ?250 crores).

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Kantara¡¯s actor-director Rishab Shetty recently spoke about how the Indian audience love ¡®stories rooted in our culture' and Kantara gives them the same.

In an interview with Zoom Digital, Rishab said, ¡°The people of India are sentimental. They love stories rooted in our culture and ethos. Filmmakers elsewhere thought that such desi stories will not work and they should make something with more western sensibilities, films that are more commercial in nature. However, audience kuch aur hi soch rahi hai (is thinking something else). They want grounded, rooted, regional villages, realistic stories on the silver screen.¡±

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He further spoke about the awareness of Kannada films and said, "In the 70s and 80s there was a superstar Dr Rajkumar, whose films got dubbed into multiple languages, such was his stardom. Humara legacy bhi hai, but har industry mein ups and downs hota hai (We also have our legacy but every industry has its ups and downs) Toh after KGF 2, people suddenly had a renewed interest in Kannada films. It is a good thing.¡±

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What¡¯s the film all about?

Kantara is a thriller rooted in the culture and faith of coastal Karnataka which also walks parallel to politics involving land grabs and local beliefs in Daiva and Bhootas. The film is strong in critics' heads and has become the highest-rated Indian film on IMDB, ahead of classics like Pyaasa, Nayakan, Apur Sansar, and Black Friday. It was first released on September 30th for the Kannada cine-goers.

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The film¡¯s success made the makers further release Kantara¡¯s dubbed versions and no wonder the decision is filling their pockets. The film is now available in Hindi, Telugu, Tamil and Malayalam. Apart from Rishab, Kantara also features Kishore Kumar G, Achyuth Kumar and Sapthami Gowda. Set in the fictional village of Dakshina Kannada, Kantara follows a Kambala champion (Rishab), who comes to loggerheads with an upright Forest Range officer, Murali (Kishore).

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