The Indian box office has been doing well lately, but not because of movies with enormous budgets. Two smaller movies, on the other hand, have done very well. Chapter 1 of the Malayalam superhero drama Lokah: The unanticipated success of Chandra and Little Hearts, a Telugu romantic comedy, has demonstrated once again that people are prepared to see fresh stories and new actors.
Dulquer Salmaan, an actor and producer, is behind the famous superhero franchise The Rise of Lokah. The first half, Lokah: Chapter 1: Chandra, is said to have cost Rs 30 crore. Experts in the field predict that by the time the movie is done, it may make ten times its investment, or roughly Rs 300 crore. The producers are now sure enough to quickly make sequels because the first one worked so well. This might make Lokah a franchise worth watching in the future.
Little Hearts: The underdog story
But Little Hearts had a budget that was less than 10% of Lokah's. But it has become a topic of conversation in the culture. The movie, which came out on September 5, 2025, stunned everyone in the business by beating the action crime drama starring Anushka Shetty on its first day.
The movie really spoke to younger people since it featured content creator Mouli Tanuj, who had never been depicted as a "star hero" before. The majority of the web evaluations were quite good because the stories, gags, and characters were all well-liked. Actor-director Rahul Ravindran said it best when he said it was a movie with "skill, self-awareness, and intuition" instead of a "flaky entertainer riding on trends."
Sudha Krishna, who is an exhibitor and distributor in Andhra Pradesh agrees with the fact that small budget films are doing well at the box office when compared to the big budget star-studded films. “In the recent times, many star-studded films have been released. Though they come with a lot of expectations, the fact is that these movies have failed in impressing the audience. Most importantly, it is the content that matters. It is high time to tell new stories only.”
A growing trend
These two movies were so successful that Indian cinema would alter a lot. People are starting to like smaller and mid-range movies more than big ones. Malayalam blockbusters like Manjummel Boys (Rs 15 crore budget, record-breaking earnings) and Premalu (Rs 3 crore budget, Rs 150 crore gross) showed last year that movies that focus on the story can change the game.
War 2, which starred Hrithik Roshan and Jr. NTR, went poorly for Yash Raj Films. But Saiyaara, which included Bollywood actors, shocked everyone by making more than Rs 550 crore. The 3D animated movie Mahavatar Narsimha was also better than Hari Hara Veera Mallu.
Talking about this film in a recent event, Naga Vamsi, the distributor of War 2 said “From next time, he would like to watch the film and speak.” Naga Vamsi’s speech at war 2 event got trolled a lot post release of the film.
The Bottom Line
The fact that Lokah and Little Hearts both did well in a row shows that people are choosing unique, real stories above big budgets and star endorsements. Filmmakers should remember that people still like movies that are honest and well-made, not merely superhero flicks or buddy comedies.
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