It was just last year when the Kannada film industry was in the limelight, thanks to the big budget venture KGF. But now there is another offering that has surpassed the Rs 80 crore budget of KGF.
Kurukshetra, a mythological film based on Mahabharata, is reportedly the most expensive film in the history of Kannada film industry.
The Sandalwood venture, which released in Kannada and Telugu on August 9, is expected to earn around Rs 30 crore from Karnataka market alone in the first week of its release. The film released in 400 theatres in the state.
According to trade experts, the movie has earned around Rs 50 crore worldwide so far.
The satellite rights have been sold to Zee Kannada for Rs 9.5 crore, audio rights were sold for Rs 1.5 crore.
Reports suggest that the Hindi dubbing rights for the film have been bought for Rs 9.5 crore.
Talking to Moneycontrol, Yateesh Venkatesh, son of actor-producer Rockline Venkatesh, who is also distributor of the movie, said: "We have got an overwhelming response from both our Kannada and Telugu audience and even overseas audience. We are releasing the Malayalam version on August 23. We have got a good response from both (Tamil (the film released on August 15) and Malayalam) the industry. This will encourage us to do more content oriented movies and Hindi will be key to connect with North India."
The Hindi version of the film is likely to release in the second week of September.
In addition, there are plans to release Kurukshetra in 3,000 theaters from all the versions.
For Kannada films, making a mark outside its home turf is both important and necessary.
Around 95-98 percent revenue comes from within Karnataka for the film industry.
The scenario is different for Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam movies, where 70-80 percent revenue comes from within the state and the rest is outside.
According to a 2017 report, the contribution of the Kannada film industry to the overall box office share is two percent of the revenues and box office success rate stands at around 25 percent.
Hence, the movie industry in the state is looking for change which is expected to come with the success of films like Kurukshetra.
The industry is expecting Kurukshetra to surpass the worldwide collections of Yash-starrer KGF which changed the outlook for the Kannada film industry.
KGF became the first Kannada movie to mint over Rs 200 crore worldwide and to make Rs 100 crore in Karnataka alone. Apart from Kannada and Hindi, KGF: Chapter 1 was released in Tamil, Telugu, and Malayalam languages.
The Kannada film industry is betting on the big budget films as they believe that such films will flourish the industry, they will help the market grow and small and medium size films will benefit from this growth and recognition as well.
There was a time when around Rs 10 crore to Rs 15 crore were invested to make Kannada films.
Talking about the lavish budget, Venkatesh said: "KGF was welcomed by all the other industries because of the content. For Munirathna Kurukshetra it is the same if content is strong enough, then the budget really won't matter."
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