Kantara shows an extraordinary trend at the box office in the Hindi belts and seems to be a sleep hit. After a good start of Rs. 1.27 crore, Kantara (Hindi) is up nearly 100% on Saturday. Early estimates say the film is in the range of €2.20 to 2.60 crores, with the two-day total around Rs. 4 crore mark.

The growth has come across the board – be it the national chains or the mass bands, and given the reception from the audience, we expect the film to show another big jump on Sunday. Kantara will be looking at a weekend around Rs. 7 crore mark which is a very good result for a Kannada movie dubbed in Hindi with no face value and no promotions.

Kantara’s two day trend is better than bigger movies with bigger stars like Rocketry (Madhavan & Shah Rukh Khan), Vikram (Kamal Haasan) and Godfather (Chiranjeevi & Salman Khan) and this is yet another indication of how we live in the era of the content and not the stars.

If Kantara manages to jump on Sunday and hold steady from Monday, it might be a film hitting the Rs. 20 crore mark in the Hindi belts and is emerging as a sleep hit from the Kannada film industry. While the number may seem small at first glance, it would be great for a film that rides on regional flavor with no face value.