2022 can rightly be called the year when Kannada cinema truly came of age. Sandalwood, as the Kannada film industry is known in slang, has been hovering on the fringes of stardom since long. The otherwise prolific film industry has been content playing second fiddle to its more illustrious siblings, Tollywood (the Telugu film industry), Mollywood (Malayalam film industry) and Kollywood (Tamil film industry). And then there’s always big daddy Bollywood outshining all other film industries, until 2022 happened.
It has been a breakout year for the Kannada film industry, with several Kannada films hitting the sweet spot with theatre-going audiences. However, in the flurry of releases, one wonders which production house in Sandalwood walked away with the best movies, both as per the bottom line, as well as the quality of films. We’ve made it our job to single out that one Kannada production house that is the most successful and deserves the title of ‘Top Production House’ In the Kannada film industry.
Let’s see –
We researched into the most prolific and best Kannada film production houses, went into the nitty-gritty of their releases this year — both the ones they produced, and the ones they distributed — and finally got our winner – ‘The Top Production House In Kannada Cinema In 2022’.
We found the following –
Kiccha Creations, owned by Kannada star Kiccha Sudeep, had one notable release this year – ‘Vikrant Rona’. The film did decent business at the box office, raking in 160 – 200 crores worldwide. The film received love from audiences too.
Kishore Productions had just the one – Puneeth Rajkumar’s final film, ‘James’. The film raked in the moolah as well as audience love.
Shalini Arts co-produced Vikrant Rona – just the one. We’ve already discussed its merits above.
Paramvah Studios, owned by Kannada star Rakshit Shetty, had a big hit in ‘777 Charlie’. The film was also showered with immense love and accolades by critics, audiences and industry folk. Sakutumba Sametha was another film produced by Paramvah Studios. They also distributed Sai Pallavi’s ‘Gargi’.
And now comes the production house that created and produced the two monster hits of the year in Kannada cinema, not to mention, a finger in the pie of other movies too. We’re talking about Hombale Films; and the monster hits of the year are KGF Chapter 2, and Kantara. KGF Chapter 2 raked in an eye-popping 1200 Crores+ worldwide, and shattered several box office records while doing so. It is the highest-grossing film of Kannada cinema ever. Not just that, the craze for Rocky Bhai achieved cult status. Kantara proved to be the second golden goose for Hombale Films, making 450 Crores at the box office.
Going by all of the above, it is proved beyond doubt that Hombale Films deserves the title of ‘The Top Production House In Kannada Cinema In 2022’.
Now that that’s decided, stay tuned to Binged.com for our next Yearender.