From Kantara: Chapter 1 To Akhanda 2: South Indian Films That Ruled Box Office In 2025 With Power, Pride And Pan-India Appeal | In Photos
From Kannada cinema’s spiritual epic Kantara: Chapter 1 to Telugu mass entertainer Akhanda 2: Thaandavam, South Indian films delivered a power-packed box office run in 2025. Rishab Shetty’s Kantara: Chapter 1 emerged as a pan-India phenomenon, while Malayalam cinema created history with Lokah: Chapter 1 – Chandra crossing the ₹300-crore mark.
Tamil superstar Ajith Kumar’s Good Bad Ugly ruled its market with strong fan-driven collections, and Pawan Kalyan-starrer They Call Him OG dominated the Telugu box office with record openings. Despite stiff competition, Akhanda 2 added to the year’s momentum, underscoring South cinema’s growing nationwide and global pull.
Have a look at these Box Office gems.
(Photo Credits: All images are taken from X, IG and are publicly available.)
Kantara: Chapter 1
Kantara: Chapter 1, directed by and starring Rishab Shetty, emerged as a massive blockbuster, grossing ₹845–850 crore worldwide. Made on a ₹125 crore budget, the prequel topped the Karnataka box office and found strong success in Hindi and other dubbed versions.
Mollywood's own Lokah: Chapter 1 – Chandra
Malayalam cinema made history with Lokah: Chapter 1 – Chandra, becoming the highest-grossing Malayalam film ever. The blockbuster crossed ₹300 crore worldwide, broke records in Kerala and overseas, and marked a landmark success for the industry.
They Call Him OG
They Call Him OG, starring Pawan Kalyan, became the highest-grossing Telugu film of 2025, earning ₹300+ crore worldwide with record-breaking openings and massive fan support in India and overseas.
Good Bad Ugly
Good Bad Ugly, starring Ajith Kumar, emerged as Tamil cinema’s biggest blockbuster of 2025, grossing ₹240+ crore worldwide with its action-packed, fan-driven story.
Akhanda 2: Thaandavam
Akhanda 2: Thaandavam, starring Nandamuri Balakrishna, earned ₹76.64 crore net in its first week at the Telugu box office, performing strongly initially but facing stiff competition from new releases in the following week.
