Rishab Shetty’s Kantara: A Legend Chapter 1 has taken the box office by storm since its release, earning Rs 61.85 crore on its opening day, significantly surpassing Varun Dhawan and Janhvi Kapoor’s Sunny Sanskari Ki Tulsi Kumar, which collected around Rs 10 crore on day one.
Day-wise collections and trends
The film witnessed a slight drop on Friday, a working day, earning Rs 46 crore, taking its total to over Rs 100 crore. However, on Saturday, Kantara saw a major surge with an estimated collection of Rs 55 crore, pushing its overall box office tally to Rs 162.85 crore in just three days, according to early estimates by Sacnilk.
With Saturday’s collection of Rs 55 crore, the film recorded the highest first Saturday collection of 2025, surpassing films like Vicky Kaushal’s Chhaava (Rs 37 crore), Hrithik Roshan and Jr NTR’s War 2 (Rs 33.25 crore), and Rajinikanth’s Coolie (Rs 39.5 crore).
Outlook and future prospects
Kantara: A Legend Chapter 1 is poised for a blockbuster weekend and is expected to easily cross the Rs 200 crore mark, making it the second Kannada film to achieve this milestone after Yash and Prashanth Neel’s KGF 2, which went on to collect over Rs 800 crore in India.
The film stars Rishab Shetty, Rukmini Vasanth, Gulshan Devaiah, and Jayaram in leading roles. The makers have already announced Kantara 2 with a planned climax, while the third installment of the series is also in the pipeline. However, Rishab Shetty’s focus remains on projects including the Hanuman sequel with Prashanth Verma and Tejja Sajja, as well as a biopic on Shivaji Maharaj.
Conclusion
With strong word-of-mouth and growing audience interest, Kantara: A Legend Chapter 1 is set to solidify its position as a record-breaking Kannada film at the national box office.