Kantara Chapter 1 Box Office Day 1: Rishab Shetty’s Prequel Opens with ₹65 Crore, Beats Rajinikanth’s Coolie

The highly awaited prequel by Rishab Shetty, Kantara: Chapter 1, has set the box office ablaze with a record-breaking Day 1 collection of ₹65 crore and has become one of the biggest Indian film openings of 2025. Released on Dussehra, Kantara ensured packed theatres across the nation, thereby defeating Rajinikanth in Coolie and other blockbusters in recent times.

Kantara Chapter 1 Box Office Collection Day 1

According to early estimate sources from Sacnilk.com, the film had been earning over ₹65 crore worldwide on the opening day.

Of this, the Hindi dubbing version accounted for ₹19-21 crore, which is an indicator of a strong pan-India pull beyond its Kannada audience.

With this, the film has outperformed recent opener films Saiyaara, Sikandar and Chhaava, claiming one of the highest opening spots in 2025.

Why Kantara Chapter 1 Clicked

The big-day release gave the film a big festival advantage in drawing holiday crowds. Though having a Kannada-centered culture, the multi-language release (in Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam) set it to achieve a pan-India reach, much like the first Kantara.

Industry experts feel that if the word-of-mouth goes strong in the coming days and evening shows continue in good numbers, the film will sustain momentum and shatter lifetime records.

Celebrity Reactions

• Having broken opening barriers, some big names from the Indian film fraternity entered to give their verdict.
• Prabhas termed the film "brilliant" and chose to predict it as arguably the biggest blockbuster of the year.
• Jr NTR congratulated Rishab Shetty for doing very well both as an actor and a director, praising the film for its scale and story.

About the Film

Kantara Chapter 1 is produced under the banner of Hombale Films (Vijay Kiragandur & Chaluve Gowda), starring Rishab Shetty, Rukmini Vasanth, Gulshan Devaiah, and Jayaram. With cinematography dazzled by Arvind S Kashyap, music composed by B Ajaneesh Loknath, and production design laid down by Banglan, the film stands a sight to behold.

What's next?

With an unprecedented start, Kantara: Chapter 1 has already broken opening day records. Should this streak continue, the film would easily cement the title of one of the greatest pan-India hits of 2025.