Sandalwood 2025: 22 films released in January, 17 have been announced for February; there maybe a slow down in March owing to exams and IPL, but still…
Last Updated: 02.17 PM, Feb 01, 2025
Kannada cinema is off to a flying start in 2025, as far as the number of releases go and not so much the box office performance. Since the start of the year, 23 films have already made it to theatres, with only 2 claiming some semblance of decent theatrical returns.
The year began with 3 Kannada movies in theatres, even though, the year-enders, Max and UI were still going strong. There was After Breakup, starring Dhanaraju YN and Nisarga Manjunatha, Guns and Roses with Arjun Vishwakarma and Kishore and Swecha with Anvish Anand on January 3.
The Sankranti week on January 10, had Sharan’s Choo Mantar, the anthology Nimma Vasthugalige Neeve Javaabdaararu and Teddy Bear, featuring Bhargav BV. While Sanju Weds Geetha 2 was also meant to release for the festival, last minute legal hurdles meant that it got postponed by a week. The Srinagara Kitty-led film released on January 17, but wound up its theatrical run in 3 days. The makers are considering a re-release with 20-minutes additional footage.
Joining it was Bigg Boss Kannada fame Divakar’s Raja Roja and Atharva Prakash’s Kanna Mucche Kaade Goode. A week later, Rishi’s crime thriller revenge drama Rudra Garuda Purana, Viraat’s Royal, Aniissh, Chikkanna and Gurunandan’s Forest and Venkatesh Gowda’s Ride.
The end of the month then saw a flurry of activity with 9 films hitting theatres, namely, Alle Draw Alle Bahumana, Nodidavaru Enantare, Gana, #ParuParvathy, Beguru Colony, Hyena, Ittige Goodinalli Raja Rani, Ravutha and Kaadu Male.
Among these films, Choo Mantar has been in theatres for 25 days, with the team claiming it to be a successful venture, while trackers estimate that it’s made around Rs 5 crore net. Rudra Garuda Purana also had a success meet, but there are no figures, official or from trackers, to back this up.
After this very busy last Friday of January, February begins with 7 confirmed releases on February 7, 4 on February 14, 3 on February 21, and 2 on February 28. The first set of 7 includes Unlock Raghava, Roopesh Shetty’s Adhipatra, Mr Rani, Rajvardhan’s Gajarama, Kishore’s Anamadheya Ashok Kumar, Dharma Kirtiraj’s Talvar and Bagheeratha.
Valentine’s Day has Pramod and Pruthvi Ambaar’s Bhuvanam Gaganam, Gurunandan’s much-delayed Raju James Bond, Yogi’s Sidlingu 2 and Rhythm. On February 21, then, Shreyas K Manju’s Vishnupriya will be joined by Eddelu Manjunatha 2 and Bhava Theera Yaana, with Priyanka Upendra’s Life Is Beautiful and Pratyartha closing out the month.
Only 2 Kannada films – Rakshasa and Rippen Swamy - have confirmed release dates in March, but more are likely to join in, even though it is exam and, eventually IPL season. The prediction is that Kannada cinema will get to a half century by the end of March, with the whole year seeing well over 200 films in theatres.
The big question, of course, is how many of them will strike a chord with audiences and drive footfalls to theatres. Well, let’s wait and watch!