Kantara touching record collections among South movies

Bngaluru/ Mangaluru: The ritualistic theatre thriller 'Kantara' is heading towards records of sorts in the second week after its release. It collected Rs 170 crore in India and Rs 18 crore overseas, for a worldwide gross of Rs 188 crore, becoming the second highest-grossing Kannada film of all time beating Yash-starrer 'KGF'. Due to the Diwali weekend, the film got a boost at the collections. The total box office collections of the film have reached Rs 170 crore.

It will be crossing the Rs 200 crore mark before the end of the fourth week, according to pinkvilla.com. 'Kantara' has raked in Rs 111 crore approximately so far in Karnataka, with Rs 14 crore fourth weekend, which is double of the full fourth week of 'KGF 2'.

Its path of success was not without controversies or rather storms in the teacup. Following the grand success of 'Kantara – A Legend', a Kannada actor Chetan Ahimsa has irked activists by making a comment without historical backing. A notice has now been sent to the actor after police received innumerable complaints about his comment. The actor, Chetan Ahimsa had sparked a controversy after conducting a press conference few days ago. He said that the 'Bhootha Kola' tradition portrayed in Kantara does not belong to Hindu culture.

"The Bhootha Kola culture was part of nature worshippers and claiming that it is a Hindu culture is wrong. Around 3,500 years ago, the Aryans migrated from Central Asia and brought Vedic knowledge including Sanskrit. They eventually mingled with the Dravidians and gave rise to these traditions", he said. He went on to say, "These traditions have been active in places like Mangaluru. The Hindu religion on the other hand, had brought these aboriginal traditions under its wing to support the religion's own existence and development."

The Hindu Jagarana Vedike, a right-wing group associated with the RSS had lodged a police complaint in Udupi district against Chetan in this regard. The group said that Chetan made derogatory statements against the Hindus while making blatant comments on 'Bhootha Kola' tradition.

The Hindu Jagarana Vedike also asked the police to summon Chetan and warn him from making more statements like these. " I don't put Chetan among the list of smart people. This is an instance of pure professional jealousy because his movies couldn't make such an impact. People have tweeted from all over the country about the weightage of the tradition and it is a matter of pride," said Chakravarti Sulibele, a writer and activist.

Social media users from the coast and western ghat regions were outraged when they found that Chetan had made such comments. While many social media users claim that Chetan is using this opportunity to hog the limelight off Kantara, few others claim that he is making half-witted, preposterous statements.

According to the complaints received by the police at various locations, Chetan had made remarks that insulted the Hindu religion. Several complainants alleged that Chetan wants to create a rift among the Hindus. As per sources, Chetan was summoned by the Sheshadripuram Police in Bengaluru on Sunday. Director of Kantara, Rishab Shetty responded to Chetan's comments by saying that the people will answer him.