Nani’s HIT 3 breaks even in Karnataka in Week 1 from Telugu version only
Although actor-producer Nani ensured HIT 3 was dubbed in Kannada and was released in that version too, the collections remained low
Last Updated: 05.30 PM, May 07, 2025
When Jersey star Nani came to Bengaluru as part of the last leg of promotions for his now newest hit film HIT 3 that also featured KGF and Cobra fame Srinidhi Shetty, he’d spoken at length about his attempt to build an audience across the nation, by dubbing all his films in at least 4 other languages, apart from the Telugu original. The Krishna Gaadi Veera Prema Gaadha actor Nani, of course, had dubbed only for the Telugu version, letting technology do its magic for the others.
Is there demand for Kannada dubbed films in theatres?
Karnataka distributor Kumar of Bangalore Kumar Films had been asked about the split of screens/shows for the Telugu version of HIT 3 vis a vis the Kannada dubbed one, and he’d stated that while he’d earmarked about 50 screens for the latter, it was entirely dependent on the demand for the same. And going by the collections that the Kannada version got, it maybe safe to say that there is no demand, with Kannadiga audiences also preferring to watch the Telugu original.
The distributor told OTTplay that the Eega star’s ultra-violent HIT 3 had collected Rs 8 core net in its first week at the Karnataka box office, owing to which he achieved break-even. He added that almost the entire box office came from the Telugu original version, with a measly 0.4 cr coming from the Kannada dubbed one. Naysayers may put this down to the fact that the show timings for the Kannada version are either in the morning or closer to noon, but even after a week, the film has a fair share of evening and night shows in the Kannada version.
In the past, distributors of big-ticket films from Tamil and Telugu, especially, have been called out for not prioritizing the Kannada dubbed version during the release, which they’ve always countered with the demand vs supply reasoning and that exhibitors prefer screening the more profitable original version. Kumar reckons that no film has made significant money from a Kannada dubbed version and the return on investment is very low, that filmmakers often skip it, preferring instead to have a Telugu or Tamil release for, say, a Hindi original.