SouthSide Studio is a Bengaluru film-marketing agency that runs Namma Sandalwood, a network of Kannada-language Instagram film and meme pages. For a Hindi or Bollywood film releasing in Karnataka, we plan Kannada memes, reels and captions, run creator and reviewer outreach in the state, and report every post on a live dashboard, working alongside your home-market agency, Karnataka distributor and PRO. Our pages have covered 8 Hindi films in 444 posts.
हिन्दी में पढ़ें → · All languages: South Indian film promotion in Karnataka →
Updated · Market facts carry their sources and dates.
For a Hindi film, Karnataka is a market where census language shares and ticket demand point in different directions. Hindi is only the fifth language of Bengaluru city, yet Karnataka ranked third among states on Dhurandhar 2's paid previews, and in April 2024 Bengaluru held about 30% of PVR INOX's screens in South India. Each row below names its geography and definition (city or district, mother tongue or language group) and its source.
| Fact | Figure | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Hindi's share of India's gross box office, 2025Ormax estimate. Original Hindi films made 93% of Hindi-language collections; dubbed South films fell to 7%, from 31% in 2024. | 41% (5,504 crore rupees of 13,395 crore) | Ormax Media, The Ormax Box Office Report: 2025January 2026 |
| Hindi's share of India's gross box office, January to June 2026Share of the 6,398 crore rupees grossed in India in the first half of 2026. | 44% (39% a year earlier) | Ormax Media, The India Box Office Report: Jan–Jun 202617 Jul 2026 |
| Hindi speakers, Bengaluru city (BBMP with outgrowths)Hindi language group. Fifth after Kannada 42.07%, Tamil 16.34%, Telugu 13.73% and Urdu 13.00%. | 5.61% (4,76,673 of 84,95,492) | Census of India 2011, C-16 town table, Karnataka2011 data |
| Hindi mother tongue, Bengaluru Urban districtMother tongue only; the wider Hindi language group is 5.51% of the district. | 4.55% (4,38,067 of 96,21,551) | Census of India 2011, C-16 Karnataka2011 data |
| Karnataka's 'Hindi' language group, whole stateIncludes Lamani/Lambadi (9,74,622), which is larger than Hindi as a mother tongue (8,71,809, or 1.43% of the state). | 3.3% (20,13,364 of 6,10,95,297) | Census of India 2011, C-16 Karnataka2011 data |
| Dhurandhar 2 paid previews, ranking of statesAfter Maharashtra (10.12 crore) and Delhi (7.27 crore). Previews ran on the eve of the 19 March 2026 release; recobee.ai data. | Karnataka 3rd: 6.77 crore rupees net | Variety IndiaMarch 2026 |
| PVR INOX screens in BengaluruOf 572 screens in 100 properties across South India (about 30%), as of April 2024, when the 14-screen Phoenix Mall of Asia megaplex opened. | 172 screens in 26 cinemas | The Week (PVR INOX announcement)11 Apr 2024 |
| Kantara: Chapter 1, Hindi and Kannada versions (India gross)Ormax estimates. The Hindi version ranked fourth in Ormax's 2025 Hindi Top 10. | Hindi 249 crore rupees; Kannada 238 crore | Ormax Media, The Ormax Box Office Report: 2025January 2026 |
| KGF: Chapter 2, Hindi version (gross)Top Hindi-market grosser of 2022, ahead of RRR's Hindi version (307 crore), per an Ormax Media and GroupM iTV report. | 509 crore rupees | Business Today24 Jan 2023 |
Census language figures are from 2011, the latest available, and count mother tongue rather than ticket buyers; box-office figures are Ormax estimates or tracker data as reported by the outlets named, not audited collections.
Our pages have covered 8 Hindi films in 444 posts between March 2023 and October 2026, with 10.43 crore recorded views in total. 1 of these films is a client campaign, marked as such; the rest are our pages' own coverage.
Showing 5 of 8 films: the largest with a recorded figure of 10,000 or more. Older posts, from before Instagram reported views, read near zero. Every film is in the research data.
| Film | Posts | Recorded figure | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ramayana Client campaign | 420 | 10.34 crore views | Dashboard → |
| Dhurandhar Network coverage | 2 | 3.9 lakh views | Dashboard → |
| Dhurandhar: The Revenge Network coverage | 2 | 3.2 lakh views | Dashboard → |
| Baaghi 4 Network coverage | 1 | 2.2 lakh views | Dashboard → |
| War 2 Network coverage | 1 | 12,125 accounts reached | Dashboard → |
Each figure is the film's headline on its dashboard: views or accounts reached, whichever is larger. Views are lifetime Instagram views at the last refresh and keep rising; reach is counted per post, so it can count one account several times. Neither is ticket sales or a unique audience. For comparison, posts about Kannada films since September 2024 have a median of 86,865 views (4,112 posts); our pages mostly cover large or much-awaited Hindi films, so the two are not like for like. Method and full data: other-language films on Kannada pages.
Census figures alone are a poor guide to a Hindi film's Karnataka audience. Hindi has grown in Bengaluru: a census-based study puts it at 2.93% of the city in 1991, 3.67% in 2001 and 5.64% in 2011 (Singh and Biradar, Demography India), but it is still a minority language in the city. Do not plan on the statewide "Hindi" count of about 20 lakh: it includes more Lamani/Lambadi speakers than Hindi speakers.
Demand is better read from tickets and screens. Karnataka came third on Dhurandhar 2's paid previews, though Hindi was the mother tongue of about 1.4% of the state in 2011; a census share is not a count of ticket buyers. Ahead of War 2 and Coolie's same-day release in August 2025, trade voices told Bollywood Hungama that the real clash would be in Bengaluru, a "neutral venue" with large Tamil-, Telugu- and Hindi-speaking audiences. In Bengaluru, where most people speak Kannada, Tamil, Telugu or Urdu first, the language of a Karnataka post is a planning decision.
Exhibitors set ticket prices. As of 12 October 2026, the state's 200-rupee ticket cap, multiplexes included, is stayed under a Karnataka High Court interim order of 23 September 2025, with the final ruling pending (The South First). A separate 2% cinema cess Act came into force on 30 September 2026 and is under challenge; that day the court declined to stay it but recorded the State's assurance of no coercive action against the petitioners until the next hearing (LiveLaw). Our release rules guide tracks both.
Language is a live public subject in Bengaluru, and film publicity is part of it. Kannada on a film's Karnataka creative is an audience expectation and a marketing choice, not a poster law: the 60% Kannada rule concerns the name boards of establishments, not film posters. Our Karnataka release rules guide sets out what that rule covers and where it stands as of 12 October 2026, with dated sources.
In practice, keep the national Hindi and English creative as it is and add a Karnataka-facing set: a Kannada title line, release date and captions. Name the version that is actually playing: Hindi, or a Kannada dub if one releases. Keep jokes about language out of the meme brief. Our Kannada editors write that copy for Kannada-speaking audiences, and your team approves it before anything is posted.
Films already travel between Kannada and Hindi audiences. KGF: Chapter 2's Hindi version led the 2022 Hindi market at 509 crore rupees gross, per Ormax Media and GroupM iTV (Business Today). Kantara: Chapter 1's Hindi version, an estimated 249 crore, ranked fourth in Ormax's 2025 Hindi chart, just ahead of the Kannada original at 238 crore (Ormax). Yash's Toxic, shot in Kannada and English, took about 55 crore rupees net in Hindi on its 26 August 2026 opening day against 23.30 crore in Kannada, though the Kannada shows were the fullest, at 89% occupancy (estimates reported by The Hollywood Reporter India, which cites the tracker Sacnilk).
Kantara: Chapter 1's launch treated each language as its own market: its trailer was released separately in each language, with Hrithik Roshan presenting the Hindi one (Sacnilk). Karnataka is also sold as its own distribution territory for pan-India films (Sacnilk on Pushpa 2). A Hindi film's Karnataka leg can run the same template in reverse: a Karnataka distributor, a PRO for Kannada press and Kannada-language social. Some Hindi films already do part of this: The South First reports that Sri Raghavendra Chitravani, a Sandalwood film PR firm, handled the Kannada versions of Jawan and 12th Fail (The South First).
Your home-market agency runs the national campaign in Hindi and English. The Karnataka distributor handles screens, shows and local dates, and the PRO handles Kannada press. We add the Kannada-language social layer: memes, reels and captions on the Namma Sandalwood network, creator and reviewer outreach in Karnataka, and a calendar matched to the Karnataka dates your distributor and PRO confirm. Every post goes on a live dashboard with its link, date and views or reach, so your team can check each post rather than a screenshot of a total.
We do not dub, subtitle or translate films, distribute them, book theatres, file for censor certification or give legal advice. Our staff meet clients in person only in Bengaluru; producers in Mumbai or elsewhere brief us by WhatsApp, email or phone.
So far, our pages' Hindi posts have centred on one film with a Kannada connection: Ramayana, with Yash. Since 14 October 2026 we have also run Ramayana's social campaign as a client collaboration, working directly with DNEG and Monster Mind Creations. The coverage table above lists the Hindi films whose recorded figure is 10,000 or more, each linked to its dashboard. Ramayana is marked as a client campaign; the other films are our pages' own posts, not collaborations with those films' producers.
Before you schedule anything, read Karnataka release rules for other-language films (ticket prices, show timings, language versions and publicity rules, dated).
Send the Karnataka release date, distributor, PRO contact, language versions and approved assets. We draft Kannada memes, reels and captions for the trailer and songs, shortlist Karnataka creators and reviewers, and set the calendar against your national launch dates, so the Kannada posts go out on the day the Hindi trailer does.
Kannada posts carry the Karnataka release date and name the version that is actually playing. If the film runs paid previews, as Dhurandhar 2 did, the calendar starts on preview day. Creator and reviewer posts follow the first shows, and booking details go out only after the distributor confirms them.
Weeks two and three keep the film in Kannada conversation with reaction posts, memes and creator follow-ups, scaled to how the film is holding in Karnataka. The live dashboard stays open throughout, and a short written wrap report lists what ran, what landed and what we would change.
We plan and post Kannada-language promotion for the Karnataka release: memes, reels and captions on the Namma Sandalwood network, creator and reviewer outreach in Karnataka, and a calendar coordinated with your Karnataka distributor and PRO. Every post is reported on a live dashboard. We do not dub, subtitle or translate films, distribute them, book theatres, handle censor certification or give legal advice.
The scope, not a rate card. The main drivers are the number of pages and posts, the mix of reels and static memes, how many creators and reviewers take part, the length of the campaign window, and whether the Hindi original and a Kannada version need separate creative. Send the brief with a budget range if you have one, and we will propose a scope to match it.
As soon as the Karnataka release date and distributor are confirmed, ideally before the trailer, so Kannada posts can run alongside the national trailer and song launches. A shorter window is possible for a film that is already dated; we confirm our availability before committing to it.
That is a decision for you and your Karnataka distributor; we do not dub. In 2015 the Competition Commission of India ruled industry restrictions on Kannada dubbing anti-competitive, Kannada-dubbed releases followed from 2016–17, and The South First reports that a Sandalwood PR firm handled the Kannada versions of Jawan and 12th Fail. We promote whichever versions are actually releasing, and our captions name the version, because a Kannada caption does not mean a Kannada dub exists.
Every post appears on a live dashboard with its link, date, format and headline metric: views or accounts reached, whichever is larger for the film. Views are cumulative and keep rising after release. Reach summed across posts can count the same account more than once. Neither is a ticket sale. A short written wrap report closes the campaign.
No. Send the brief by WhatsApp to +91 63627 23785 or by email to contact@southsidestudio.in, in Hindi or English, and we will set up a call. Our staff meet clients in person only in Bengaluru, and we reply in English or Kannada.
Share what you know; the rest can be fixed later.
The WhatsApp and email buttons open a draft that you send. Call +91 63627 23785 or write to contact@southsidestudio.in.
Send the title, language versions, Karnataka dates and distributor. We will reply with a Kannada page and creator plan for your brief.