Actor Kalyani Priyadarshan has been choosy about her work since her debut in the 2017 Telugu Akhil Akkineni-starrer Hello. It looks like her patience has paid off because with Dominic Arun’s Lokah Chapter 1 – Chandra, she didn’t just become India’s first female superhero, she also became the first female actor in Malayalam to have made ₹200 crore at the box office, joining the big leagues.
Kalyani Priyadarshan plays India’s first female superhero in Lokah: Chapter 1 – Chandra. Lokah: Chapter 1 – Chandra makes ₹200 crore
Malayalam cinema has cracked the ₹200 crore mark very recently with the successes of Mohanlal’s L2 Empuraan ( ₹265.5 crore) and Thudarum ( ₹234.5 crore) this year, apart from Soubin Shahir and Sreenath Bhasi’s Manjummel Boys ( ₹240.5 crore) in 2024. And now, Lokah has joined the big leagues by collecting ₹202 crore worldwide in 13 days of release. While female-led films themselves are few and far between in Malayalam, for Lokah to make such numbers is no mean feat.
Recently, when Lokah crossed the ₹100 crore mark, actor Dulquer Salmaan, who produced it under Warfarer Films, credited actor-writer Santhy Balachandran for writing an effective lead character, saying, “We are always told that we write and approach our cinema with the male gaze. I don’t even want to say female…if there’s a lady superhero or superstar today and we represented her correctly, all credit to Santhy B.” His production house confirmed the news of the film hitting ₹202 crore on X (formerly Twitter) on Wednesday.
Kalyani Priyadarshan reacts to the milestone
Kalyani posted the news of Lokah making ₹202 crore worldwide with some behind-the-scenes pictures, writing, “Yesterday, our film reached a number that was only possible because of you, the audience. I’m beyond speechless, and truly beyond grateful for the love being showered on this film. In our industry, content has always been king, the biggest star of all – and once again, you’ve proved that to us. Thank you for giving us the chance to show that stories with vision will always find their place with you.”
She also credited Dominic for the success and added, “And @dominic_arun (our Dom)… thank you for giving us a vision we could believe in with our whole hearts. You’re the reason we were all so excited to give everything we had – and it’s safe to say none of this would have been possible without you. To the most amazing cast and crew…this win feels special for me only because I have you guys to share it with.”
Lokah, which was released in theatres on 28 August, stars Kalyani, Naslen and Sandy, alongside Arun Kurian, Chandu Salimkumar, Nishanth Sagar, Raghunath Paleri, Vijayaraghavan, Nithya Shri, and Sarath Sabha. Dulquer, Tovino Thomas, Soubin, Anna Ben and others featured in special cameos while Mammootty voiced an important character.