In an unexpected twist in 2025, Ashwin Kumar’s animated feature, Mahavatar Narsimha, soared past initial skepticism to claim the title of India’s top-grossing animation film, raking in over Rs 251 crore. The film’s compelling narrative resonated with audiences not just locally but also in North America, where its Hindi and Telugu adaptations dominated the box office.
The film in India began its journey on a very slow note earning a little over Rs 2 crore on its first day but the film went on to mint Rs 251.26 crore- making it the highest grossing animation film of India. The connection with the film was so strong that despite releasing on OTT it continued to draw audiences to the theaters. Despite being a Kannada film originally, it is the Hindi and Telugu version which minted the most money at the box office. The Hindi version contributed Rs188.20 crore while Telugu version contributed Rs 49.32 crore and Kannada version made Rs 10.2 crore. The success of Mahavtar Narisimha was not limited to just India, the film managed to shake up the North American market as well where it went on to collect USD 1.95 million (Rs 17 crore) . In comparison to other releases like Saiyaara (USD 6.22 million) or Coolie ( USD 6.95 million) or Chhaava ( USD 6.44 million) – the lifetime collection of USD 1.95 million looks small but the film has sold at a very modest price and made a huge profit for everyone involved. The success of the film in a market like North America stands out even more as the audience there are open to far better animation and visual effects. But it was the rooted story telling and the win of good over evil which made the audience feel for the film. Out of the total USD 1.95 million collection, around USD 1million came from Telugu version and USD 883,000 from Hindi version .Mahavatar Narimsha is a part of Mahavatar universe which has six more films slated, they are Mahavatar Parshuram ( 2027) Mahavatar Raghunandan ( 2029)Mahavatar Dwarkadhish ( 2031)Mahavatar Gokulananda( 2033)Mahavatar Kalki: Part 1 ( 2035) Mahavatar Kalki: Part 2 ( 2037)
