Kantara Chapter 1 starring Rishab Shetty on a box office rampage and beats KGF and Lokah

Dubai: Rishab Shetty’s Kantara Chapter 1 is on a box office rampage. The much-anticipated prequel to the 2022 blockbuster Kantara has stormed past Rs2.23 billion in its first weekend, making it one of the biggest openers of the year.

According to early estimates from Sacnilk.com, the period action drama earned an impressive Rs610 million on Sunday alone, marking its strongest day yet. The film had already collected Rs1.62 billion in the first three days before closing its opening weekend with a jaw-dropping total of over Rs 2 billion.

Across Karnataka, the film witnessed near-houseful shows with 98–99% occupancy for the Kannada version on Sunday. Overseas numbers have also been stellar, with the movie grossing over $4 million (approx. ₹33 crore) in just three days, signaling global interest in Shetty’s mythological world-building.

By the end of day four, Kantara Chapter 1 had surpassed the lifetime collections of recent biggies like Sitaare Zameen Par (Rs1,670 million), They Call Him OG (₹1,790 million), and Lokah Chapter 1 (Rs1,530 million). More impressively, it has now overtaken KGF Chapter 1’s domestic total of Rs1,850 million, becoming the third-highest-grossing Kannada film of all time—trailing only behind KGF Chapter 2 (Rs8,600 million) and the original Kantara (Rs3,100 million).

Written and directed by Rishab Shetty, Kantara Chapter 1 is set nearly a thousand years before the events of the first film. The prequel stars Rishab Shetty alongside Rukmini Vasanth, Jayaram, and Gulshan Devaiah. The film expands on the mythos and spiritual world introduced in the 2022 hit, delivering a visually rich and culturally rooted cinematic experience.

With such a thunderous opening, Kantara Chapter 1 has firmly cemented its place as one of the biggest Indian releases of 2025 — and it’s only getting started.