Rishab Shetty’s ‘Kantara’ Scores $36.5 Million

Rishabh Shetty’s surprise hit Kantara continues to score big even as it completed the fourth week of its release in India. It has earned $36.5 million by the end of the fourth week of the release across all languages. The Kannada film released on September 30 and the subsequent box office success led to a quick release of the Hindi version of the film on October 14.

The Hindi version of Kantara alone is giving tough competition to latest Bollywood releases including Ajay Devgn-starrer Thank God and Akshay Kumar’s Ram Setu. Kantara scored the highest in the Hindi belt on Saturday, collecting $0.45million. Thank God collected $0.048 million and Ram Setu collected 0.15 million in the Indian markets. The Hindi version of the film alone has collected $6.5 million in total.

Kantara has also topped Kannada films’ collection in the Hindi belts. Collecting $6.5 million, Hindi version of the film surpassed the previous record set by Yash-starrer KG Chapter 1 in 2018 (the Hindi version collected $5.1 million).

Set with the backdrop of traditional beliefs of ‘Daivaradhane’ prevalent in certain regions of the Indian state of Karnataka, the film is about man’s conflict with nature. It also showcases the ritual of ‘Bhoot Kola’ that involves worshipping of local spirits and deities. The person performing the ritual is believed to turn into God himself at the moment of the performance. The God even listens to people’s problems and offers advices. Shetty essays the lead role in the film that also stars Kishore, Sapthami Gowda, and Achyuth Kumar. The film was made on an estimated budget of $2.5 million.

Even Indian ministers are praising the film. Commerce and Industry minister Piyush Goyal said at an investors’ event that the industry must note the success of Kantara and how it has already scored almost 20 times of the investment amount. Finance minister of India Nirmala Sitharaman also watched the film and appreciated Shetty later.