Kantara Chapter 1 box office: Rishab Shetty-led prequel has 50% slump on first Monday; Rs 1,000 crore still on horizon?
Kantara Chapter 1 box office: Kantara Chapter 1 is expected to outdo the lifetime gross of 2022’s Kantara in its first week at the box office, but will it become the highest grossing film of the year?
Last Updated: 04.40 PM, Oct 07, 2025
The first Monday after the release of Rishab Shetty’s much-awaited Kantara prequel, Kantara Chapter 1, saw the film retain a good hold, but still register an almost 50% slump from, say, its Day 1 or Day 4 collections. This was to be expected, given that it was the first working day after a long weekend for many. Even then, the film is said to have made in around Rs 31 cr net, taking it to a total of Rs 265 cr at the end of 5 days, and the trend is expected to hold through the week, what with no major film releasing on October 10.
Kantara Chapter 1 will have an uninterrupted box office stint until the 17th at least, when Thamma hits theatres and will dig into the film’s Hindi market. The Ayushmann Khurrana film is part of the Stree Universe and expected to do well. The anticipation is that Rishab’s film will be 2025’s first Rs 1,000 cr grosser, and trackers estimate that it will be midway to that figure by Diwali. Whether or not it is able to sustain the same momentum thereafter remains to be seen, given that Kantara Chapter 1 has a 4-week OTT window.
How is Kantara Chapter 1 faring vis a vis films like KGF-2, Pushpa-2, etc.?
The big comparisons going on currently are about how Kantara Chapter 1 has been performing, vis a vis films like KGF Chapter 1, Pushpa 2 The Rise and this year’s highest grosser so far, Chhaava, which is the only film to have released in one language only among these movies. KGF Chapter 2’s day 5 gross was tracked to be Rs 58 cr, almost Rs 30 cr of which came from the Hindi version. Pushpa 2 rakes in Rs 77 cr gross on Day 5; Rs 53 cr coming from the Hindi dub. Interestingly, Chhaava’s Day 5 net was Rs 25 cr with a Hindi-only release.
Also read: Kantara Chapter 1: Why Rishab Shetty led film will have a fairly uninterrupted theatrical run
The 2022 Kantara had a lifetime collection of around Rs 360 cr, a figure that the prequel will eclipse shortly. Trackers reckon that it is already the highest grossing Kannada film of the year, having surpassed Su From So.
FAQs
Q. Are Kantara and Kantara: Chapter 1 the same?
A. No, they are separate films in the same franchise, both written and directed by Rishab Shetty. Kantara released in 2022, while Kantara: Chapter 1 is expected to hit theatres on October 2, 2025. Chapter 1 is the prequel of the original film and is supposedly an exploration of the origin of the Panjurli Daiva, among others.
Q. What is the run-time of Kantara Chapter 1?
A. Kantara Chapter is 2 hours and 47 minutes in total run-time.
Q. Where can one watch Kantara Chapter 1?
A. Kantara Chapter 1 will be in theatres across the world from October 2, 2025. Subsequently, it will head to Amazon Prime Video on October 30, 2025, in Kannada, Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam.
Q. Whose avatar is Panjurli Daiva?
A. Panjurli Daiva is considered an avatar of Lord Vishnu in his Varaha incarnation. Panjurli, according to folklore, was a wild boar, who was slain by Lord Shiva and then revived to become a divine protector.