The patronage for Kantara is seeing no bounds. Many thought that the film was intended for an OTT release initially.
The film was made with a humble budget of around Rs 10 Cr only. Even the Telugu dubbing artists who worked for this film expressed in a recent interview given to a youtube channel that they thought the film would be for an OTT release only for the kind of content in it.
But the film surprised many with the kind of attention it grabbed in Karnataka and made Rs 100 Cr. The success was attributed to the regional flavor effectively brought onto the screen.
When it was dubbed in Telugu and Hindi and released later many assumed that it may do a modicum business. But much to the shock the film crossed the collection of Rs 212 Cr already and still running.
The latest record is that the film Kantara surpassed KGF 1 with regard to the footfalls in theatres. It is known that the big films grab the maximum in the first week with hiked up ticket prices and thus stand up in records.
But Kantara has been selling the tickets at low prices since its first show. Leaving the collection matter aside and counting on the footfalls in theatres, Kantara surpassed KGF 1 as of now and potentially rocking ahead to defeat KGF 2 as well.
A report in circulation says- "KGF 1 had amassed 75 lakh footfalls while KGF 2 got 72 lakh though KGF 2 is the biggest grosser. Kantara is possibly on course to be the first film to get 1 crore footfalls in Karnataka and also beat the business of KGF 2 to become the highest grosser".
That's the power of small but effective cinema. Interestingly, KGF series and Kantara are on the same Hombale Films banner. The banner also delivered a huge Kannada hit Rajakumara in 2017 but at regional level.
KGF and Kantara proved to be pan India blockbusters.