By
Sharada Iyer
The animated mythological film Mahavatar Narasimha, directed by debutant director Ashwin Kumar, and based on an ‘avatar’ or incarnation of Lord Vishnu -Lord Narasimha- is creating miracles at the box-office. Produced by Kleem Productions and Hombale films, it becomes the first animation film in India to cross the Rupees 100 crores benchmark at the box-office. People from all walks of life and across all age-groups have showered the film with affection and are deriving immense joy watching this superb film in its animated avatar.
No one expected the film to get such an unprecedented reception from the audience. Everyone around had just brushed it aside as just another kid’s film and a waste of time and money. But the makers had faith in their hard work and market research and felt the blessings of the divine on them and they went ahead with their vision to bring to life this powerful story of Lord Narasimha.
The story was always there in our mythology, the different puranas and the various folk tales, and literally every child has grown up hearing the story of little Prahlad’s devotion to Lord Vishnu and how he is saved by the Lord himself against his evil tyrannical father- the demon-king Hiranyakashyap. The difficulty was to write a brilliant screenplay to engage the audience to view a story they already know. The writers also took care not to distort or play around with any fact so that the faith of the people is not hurt.
Then came the director’s brilliant idea to present the film by using computer animation and special effects and not sign any big stars. After all, the off-screen and on-screen image of the stars usually affect the public perception and it becomes difficult for a popular and known face to take the role of mythological characters. (Remember the terrible casting in the film Adipurush!). That was a bold decision but the director stood by his gut feeling.
The thorough research and screenplay took a lot of time and then came the search for a producer who would believe in the director’s vision and be ready to invest in this film. That is when Hombale films entered the picture. When this name associated with producing trailblazing films like KGF1, KGF 2 and Kantara agreed to step in, the director knew his faith had paid off.
The film was released simultaneously in the 2-D and 3-D versions in Hindi, Telugu, Malayalam and Tamil as well. Armed with quality animation and vibrant visuals, this mythological tale rooted in Indian culture tells a tale of devotion, arrogance and divine justice and has a universal appeal. The thrilling battle scenes are a sheer joy to watch.
The film also narrates the story of Lord Vishnu’s Varaha avatar. After all Prahlad’s uncle Hiranyaksh was killed by the Varaha avatar and that tale precedes the Narasimha avatar. There are mesmerizing 3-d visuals of the cosmic form of Lord Varaha, Lord Narasimha and Lord Vishnu captured in all their majestic glory. One can see the efforts that have gone into making this an experience for the viewer and lifts the film to greater heights.
The miraculous jump in the box-office collections only proves that all these efforts somehow managed to connect with the audience and the tremendous word-of-mouth reviews have created a ripple effect sending the audience to the cinema halls in large numbers. The surprisingly high collections of the Hindi version has once again created trouble for Bollywood films as a new genre is giving them a tough competition.
Released alongside a big-budget Hindi film Son of Sardar 2 starring superstar Ajay Devgn and a new film Dhadak 2 produced by Karan Johar, Mahavatar Narsimha not only did not bow down despite the fewer number of screens the film received, it did the unthinkable. The film managed to increase the number of screens and in many cinema halls, these big-budget films lost their shows and had to make way for the majestic animated film. Even the superhit film Saiyaara had to be pushed down a little. This is the first time a film has recorded a jump in collections from 1st week to 2nd and even further in its 3rd week.
Circa 1975, a seemingly insignificant low-budget film-Jai Santoshi Ma, based on the story of Goddess Santoshi, caught the nation unawares by its powerful impact on the faith and devotion of the viewers. The film not only gave the star-studded action extravaganza Sholay a run for the top spot at the box-office but also ran to packed houses with its simple yet touching storyline of the divine shakti of Santoshi Maa. People removed their slippers outside the hall and sang along when the songs were played. Well! 50 years later, the same story seems to have been repeated.
Now the director has announced his ambitious vision of creating a Mahavatar cinematic universe, where he plans to direct many avatars of Lord Vishnu- Mahavatar Parashuram, Mahavatar Raghunanadan, Mahavatar Gokulnanda, Mahavatar Kalki Part 1 and Part 2, etc. This could pave a new path for animation films in India and may also give fillip to showcase mythological tales on a grand scale on the big screen. For now, the chance to enjoy the film in cinema halls should not be missed…
{Note: All images have been taken from the internet and the writer of the blog does not claim any ownership for the same}
https://myviewsonbollywood.wordpress.com/2025/08/13/mahavatar-narasimhas-spectacular-run-is-rewriting-box-office-history/