Rishab Shetty’s Kantara Chapter 1 has achieved a remarkable milestone, emerging as the world’s highest-grossing film of the week. The Kannada period folk drama has collected an estimated ₹446 crore globally within just eight days of release, setting new records for Indian cinema on the global stage.
Historic global performance
According to reports from trade trackers, the film grossed ₹379 crore (approximately $42 million) in India and another ₹67 crore ($8 million) from international markets, taking its total worldwide collection to ₹446 crore ($53 million). This achievement places Kantara Chapter 1 ahead of major global releases, including Taylor Swift’s The Official Release Party of a Showgirl ($50 million) and Paul Thomas Anderson’s One Battle After Another ($40 million).
In doing so, the film has also outperformed the re-release of Avatar: The Way of Water, which earned under $10 million during the same week.
Box office trends in India
According to Sacnilk, the film earned ₹11.72 crore on its eighth day, pushing its domestic net total beyond ₹327 crore. Early estimates suggest that the film’s Day 8 figures may rise further once evening and night show collections are accounted for.
The movie opened with a historic ₹61.85 crore collection on Dussehra, followed by ₹46 crore on Friday, ₹55 crore on Saturday, and ₹61.5 crore on Sunday, bringing its opening weekend total to ₹224.35 crore. Within just four days, it surpassed the lifetime earnings of Game Changer (₹195 crore) and Sikandar (₹176 crore).
Among the biggest Kannada hits
Kantara Chapter 1 has become the highest-grossing Kannada film of 2025, overtaking Su From So (₹125 crore). It is now only the fourth Kannada film ever to cross the ₹150 crore mark domestically.
The film sold over 1.28 million tickets within the first 24 hours of release, marking one of the largest openings for a Kannada production. Region-wise, the opening day collections were: Kannada – ₹18 crore, Telugu – ₹12.5 crore, Hindi – ₹19.5 crore, Tamil – ₹5.25 crore, and Malayalam – ₹4.75 crore.
Massive multilingual success
The Hindi version of Kantara Chapter 1 crossed the ₹100 crore mark by Wednesday, while the Kannada version achieved the same milestone by Friday. The Telugu version collected ₹60 crore, while the Tamil and Malayalam dubs earned over ₹20 crore each.
In the Hindi market, the film opened between ₹19 crore and ₹21 crore, marking it as the second-highest Hindi opening for a Kannada film after KGF Chapter 2 (₹54 crore).
Dominating 2025 box office charts
Kantara Chapter 1 registered the third-highest single-day collection of 2025, behind Rajinikanth’s Coolie Coolie (₹65 crore) and Pawan Kalyan’s They Call Him OG (₹63.75 crore). It also surpassed opening figures of Chhaava (₹52 crore) and Saiyaara, both major releases earlier this year.
Within its first week, Kantara Chapter 1 entered the list of the top 10 highest-grossing films of 2025. Its worldwide earnings make it the second-highest-grossing Kannada film of all time, next only to KGF Chapter 2.
Critical acclaim and franchise future
Written and directed by Rishab Shetty, the film stars Rukmini Vasanth, Gulshan Devaiah, and Jayaram in key roles. Serving as a prequel to the 2022 blockbuster Kantara, it is set nearly a thousand years before the events of the original film.
Audiences and critics have praised the film for its world-building, visual scale, and deeply rooted storytelling, calling it a landmark achievement for Kannada cinema. Following the film’s success, Rishab Shetty has confirmed that Kantara Chapter 2 is already in development, promising to expand the cinematic universe even further.