Rishab Shetty’s Kantara: Chapter 1 is witnessing a surge in advance bookings in Karnataka, with several shows already sold out. The buzz in the home state is translating into strong numbers, but the film’s Hindi version is struggling to match expectations despite the cult status of the original Kantara.
The advance bookings in the Hindi belt have so far generated around Rs 50 lakh for the opening day, according to industry data-tracking portal Sacnilk.
“While this is a decent start for a dubbed Kannada film, it falls significantly short of the lofty expectations set before advance bookings opened. This eventually shows that the hype, which seemed very good on social media, is not on the ground among the general audience,” Sacnilk said in its report.
Kantara: Chapter 1 has sold over 1.5 lakh tickets for its opening day, earning Rs 5.36 crore gross (Rs 9 crore including block seats) so far. The Kannada version is performing the best, with over 1.27 lakh tickets sold already, generating Rs 4.7 crore gross.
The Telugu, Tamil and Malayalam versions of the film has generated Rs 1.1 crore gross from pre sales cumulatively.
Among the states, Karnataka has generated the highest pre sales for Kantara: Chapter 1, collecting Rs 4.5 crore gross in advance booking. Kerala follows at Rs 49.58 lakh gross, with Maharashtra in the third position (Rs 71.78 lakh gross).
The pan-India movie from Hombale Films is the prequel to the 2022 National Award-winning film Kantara, also written and fronted by Shetty.
Shetty is set to reprise his role as the protagonist in Kantara: Chapter 1. Rukmini Vasanth and Jisshu Sengupta also play key roles in the upcoming film. The prequel is written and directed by Shetty. B Ajaneesh Loknath has scored the music for Kantara: Chapter 1.
The film tells a fictional story inspired by the traditions and conflicts surrounding human-forest relationships in coastal Karnataka, specifically focusing on the practice of Bhoota Kola.
Kantara: Chapter 1 is scheduled to release in theatres on October 2.