Kannada Cinema's Step Forward, Barely

After years of drought, Kannada cinema saw unexpected wins this year — yet the industry remains wary of celebrating too soon

- BY SRUTHI GANAPATHY RAMAN

The year is coming to an end, and a question remains to be answered: How did Kannada cinema actually fare at the box office in 2025? Realistically speaking, the year witnessed an unprecedented combination — the success of a tentpole franchise film that turned a coastal Karnataka tradition into a visual spectacle (Rishab Shetty’s Kantara: A Legend Chapter-1, which went on to make ₹645 crores in India, net) and a small-budget gem that wove a story of unmistakeable human kindness with horror and comedy (J. P. Thuminad’s Su From So, which amassed ₹92 crores across India, net). Does this signal clearer skies for an industry long caught in a dry spell, or is one letting recency bias get the better of them?

The Hollywood Reporter India did a box office check on the withering state of the Kannada box office at the half-year mark for the July edition. Have things looked up since then? Actor-filmmaker Raj B. Shetty, who produced Su From So, feels there's still much to be desired. “I don’t see any change at all,” he says. “Just because two films make money, that doesn’t mean everything has changed in the industry. We are pessimistic and very optimistic, but we need to be logical. If films don’t do well, we blame the audience, saying people aren’t watching in theatres, and if they do well, we feel the industry has suddenly changed.”

Change is neither drastic nor miraculous — it is slow, he cautions. The two films might be this year’s obvious box office winners, but that doesn’t mean the year was bereft of other compelling stories. The second half of the year gave the audience Punit Rangaswamy’s Elumale, which told the story of an interstate romance, set on the boundary of Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, a taut one-night thriller. Kannada filmmaker and producer