Premada Oorali, a small Kannada family drama, crosses ₹25 crore at the box office

Premada Oorali, a Kannada family drama with almost no star power, has gone past ₹25 crore at the box office and is still filling theatres in its second week.

The film opened quietly on September 25. It made a slow start, then grew fast, and its second week has been far bigger than its first. It was reportedly made for about ₹2 crore.

Veteran actor Rangayana Raghu is the only familiar name in the cast. The lead roles go to fresh faces Thapaswini Poonacha, Shree Raam and Ramika Shivu. Shree Raam and Ramika Shivu are known mainly for their work in TV serials.

Its story is simple and set in a village. It mixes a father and son bond, a relationship drama and the troubles of farmers. Director Suri, known for Duniya and Tagaru, said a simple film is sometimes exactly what people want. "We might think the audience is craving an extravagant dish, but they might want some plain, tasty rasam," he said. He added that people are being moved to tears, which shows the emotions have worked.

Harish Mallya, a curator at the Bengaluru International Film Festival, said the film is built and shot like a serial, and that this has helped it. Audiences who have spent years watching serials connect with a film that speaks the same language, he said, and for them the theatre becomes a bigger version of their own living room.