Faith over fame is the biggest story at the Indian box office right now. Devotional films rooted in mythology are consistently outperforming star-studded releases — and Kantara, Mahavatar Narsimha, Hanuman, Karthikeya 2 and Hanuman Ansh are proof that faith-driven storytelling, not celebrity power, is what’s filling theatres in 2026.
For years, the unwritten rule of Indian cinema was simple: a big star on the poster meant a big opening weekend. No star, no chance. But somewhere between a small coastal town in Karnataka and an animation studio retelling a 5,000-year-old legend, that rule quietly stopped holding up.
Over the past few years, a new kind of blockbuster has taken over Indian theaters- one built not on celebrity but on faith. This is where devotional films truly are dominating the box office: films rooted in mythologies, folklore, and spirituality are pulling in audiences in numbers that even star-studded big-budget releases are struggling to match. And the trend shows no signs of slowing down.
The Kantara Effect
Kantara: Mysterious Forest, also known as Kantara: A Legend, is a 2022 Indian Kannada-language action thriller film written and directed by Rishab Shetty and produced by Vijay Kiragandur and Chaluve Gowda under Homable Films. The film stars Rishab Shetty in dual roles as Kaadubettu Shiva and Annappa, along with Sapthami Gowda, Kishore, and Achyuth Kumar.
It started, in many ways, with Kantara. Rishab Shetty’s tale of a village caught between tradition, land, and the divine was made on a shoestring budget of around ₹16 crore — a fraction of what most theatrical releases spend on marketing alone. Nobody expected it to travel beyond Karnataka. Instead, it went on to earn close to ₹400 crore worldwide, dubbed and re-released across languages, driven entirely by word of mouth. Its sequel, Kantara: Chapter 1, picked up right where it left off, recovering a majority of its budget within days and entering the ₹200 crore club before its first week was even over.
Kantara didn’t just succeed — it proved a formula: authentic regional storytelling, a story rooted in local belief systems, and a complete absence of star baggage could outperform anything Bollywood’s A-list had to offer that year.
Karthikeya 2 Joins the Club
Around the same time came Kartikeya 2, a Telugu mystery-adventure built around an ancient idol of Lord Krishna. With no major stars and little pre-release buzz, it still went on to earn close to ₹110 crore worldwide, quietly becoming one of the most profitable sleeper hits of its year. Like Kantara, it proved that a genuine, faith-rooted story didn’t need star power to travel.
Hanuman Joins the Club
Then came Hanuman, Teja Sajja’s superhero film built around the Hindu deity. Made on a modest budget that grew to around ₹55-60 crore due to its VFX work, it crossed ₹100 crore globally within its first week alone and eventually earned well over ₹250 crore worldwide — even holding its own against a big-budget Mahesh Babu release in a direct clash. Once again, the film had no big names attached, only a story audiences wanted to believe in.
Mahavatar Narsimha: Animation’s Unlikely Blockbuster
If Kantara opened the door, Mahavatar Narsimha kicked it wide open. An animated retelling of the Vishnu-Prahlada legend, the film was made on a reported budget of just ₹15 crore — modest even by regional cinema standards, let alone animation, where production costs typically run far higher. Few gave it a serious shot at the box office.
What followed was unprecedented. Mahavatar Narsimha became the first Indian animated film to cross ₹100 crore domestically, eventually closing its run at over ₹320 crore worldwide — outperforming global animation heavyweights like Frozen 2 and Incredibles 2 in Indian theatres. Its return on investment, estimated at over 1,500%, makes it one of the most profitable Indian films of the decade. The success was significant enough that Hombale Films has now announced an ambitious 12-year, six-film “Mahavatar Cinematic Universe,” stretching all the way to 2037.
Hanuman Ansh Joins the club
Adding to the momentum is Hanuman Ansh, which has already crossed ₹150 crore gross in India, positioning itself as one of 2026’s biggest surprise hits. Like its predecessors, it arrived without major star power or a big marketing push — yet found an audience hungry for stories that feel culturally rooted and emotionally sincere.
Why Is This Happening Now
Kantara, Mahavatar Narsimha and Hanuman Ansh are different films, but they share the same secret. None of them had big stars. None of them spent huge money on marketing. What they had instead was a strong, honest story — one rooted in folklore and faith, the kind of story people grew up hearing from their grandparents.
Audiences today are a little tired of the usual formula — the same big franchises, the same celebrity-led films. These devotional movies feel different. They feel personal and real, like something close to home. That connection is also why they don’t fade quickly. Instead of a big opening weekend followed by a drop, these films keep running in theaters for weeks, earning steadily through word of mouth.
A New Box Office Order
The numbers speak for themselves: a ₹15 crore animated film out-earning global franchises, a rural drama with no stars becoming a national phenomenon, and a mythological superhero film crossing ₹150 crore without a single marquee name attached. Individually, each could be dismissed as a one-off surprise. Together, they signal something bigger.
Devotional cinema is no longer a niche within Indian film — it’s fast becoming one of the industry’s most bankable categories. As more studios take note and greenlight similar projects, the real question isn’t whether this trend will continue, but how far it can go before it becomes the new mainstream.
