By Ayesha Khan 
Bengaluru, October 12: The crowds aren’t thinning. Ten days after release, Kantara Chapter 1 is still filling up theatres like it’s opening weekend. You can feel it on the ground outside single screens in Udupi, in the queues curling around multiplexes in Bengaluru. Rishab Shetty’s film has become more than a hit. It’s a movement.
Trade reports say the film pulled in around ₹37–38 crore (net) on Day 10, taking the total to roughly ₹397 crore across India. It’s just a breath away from the ₹400 crore mark. For a film that started as a regional release and climbed its way up, that’s a huge deal.
Talk to exhibitors, and they’ll tell you the same story: people aren’t done with Kantara yet. Some are going again with their families. Others just want to catch it in the local dialect. The film’s rhythm, its raw energy, its sense of devotion seem to be pulling at something very local, very familiar.
The Numbers Are Global Now
If the domestic figures are impressive, the global ones are almost surreal. Navbharat Times reports that Kantara: Chapter 1 has crossed ₹500 crore gross worldwide. Screens in the US, Gulf, and Germany are seeing full houses, driven by the diaspora and sheer curiosity. It’s official now: this isn’t just a South Indian hit. It’s a global success story.
Unlike the first Kantara, which grew slowly through word-of-mouth, Chapter 1 arrived with the confidence of a spectacle. Bigger sets. Wider release. Deeper mythology. And Rishab Shetty doubles as director and lead, carrying it with the same stubborn authenticity that made the first one click.
Trade analyst Taran Adarsh has already compared its trajectory to KGF: Chapter 2, which is probably the highest compliment a Kannada filmmaker can get right now. Both films share that quiet ferocity of stories that start local and end up shaking the whole country.
Fans Turn Up, Flowers In Hand
At Mumbai’s old Gaiety Galaxy, they were waiting with garlands. Rishab Shetty walked into a shower of marigolds, fans shouting his name, according to The Times of India. Similar scenes have played out back home. In parts of coastal Karnataka, you can still hear firecrackers outside night shows. It’s a kind of pride a sense that Kannada cinema has arrived, properly this time.
But success brings its own headaches. Within a week of release, a pirated print was out online. Hombale Films had to issue an emergency statement warning users against downloading or sharing the film. Cyber teams have been working overtime to pull down illegal links, as The Times of India reported.
A Plastic Water Can And A Laugh
Of course, no modern blockbuster escapes the internet microscope. Somewhere in a dance sequence, fans noticed a plastic water can lying in the corner a goof that didn’t belong in the period setting. The internet pounced, comparing it to Game of Thrones’ coffee cup blooper.
But no one’s really mad. If anything, it became another way for fans to talk about the film. People are still sharing memes, still laughing, still watching. A tiny flaw in a film this massive feels oddly human.
What This Means For Indian Cinema
Chapter 1 could very well pass ₹450 crore domestic and touch ₹600 crore worldwide by next week if the current pace holds. That would make it the highest-grossing Kannada film of all time, toppling even KGF: Chapter 2.
But maybe what’s more interesting is what this says about where Indian cinema is headed. Once upon a time, a film like this would’ve stayed regional celebrated in Karnataka, maybe a cult elsewhere. Now, it’s drawing crowds in Delhi, Dubai, and Dallas.
Rishab Shetty isn’t selling fantasy in the Bollywood sense. He’s selling belief, rooted, spiritual, sometimes brutal belief. The language barely matters. The emotion does. That’s what’s driving people back to the big screen in a streaming-saturated world.
For now, Kantara Chapter 1 shows no sign of slowing. Ten days in, it’s not just box office dominance anymore. It’s a full-blown cultural moment.
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- Ayesha Khanhttps://hindustanherald.in/author/ayesha/
- Ayesha Khanhttps://hindustanherald.in/author/ayesha/
- Ayesha Khanhttps://hindustanherald.in/author/ayesha/
- Ayesha Khanhttps://hindustanherald.in/author/ayesha/
Ananya Sharma and Ayesha Khan