SouthSide Studio is a Bengaluru film-marketing agency that runs Namma Sandalwood, a network of Kannada-language Instagram film and meme pages. For a Malayalam film releasing in Karnataka, we plan Kannada memes, reels and captions, run creator and reviewer outreach, and time posts to your distributor's dates, alongside your home-market agency. Our pages have covered 8 Malayalam films in 17 posts, recorded on public dashboards with 15.6 lakh views.
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Updated · Market facts carry their sources and dates.
Karnataka's Malayalam-speaking audience is concentrated in three places: Bengaluru, Kodagu and the Dakshina Kannada coast. Census 2011 is the latest published mother-tongue count, so we pair it with the Kerala Migration Survey 2023, which estimates how many Malayalis from Kerala, students among them, were living in Karnataka in 2023. Ormax's box-office reports and Lokah's Karnataka gross give the industry's scale.
| Fact | Figure | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Malayalam mother-tongue speakers, Karnataka (state)Malayalam as a mother tongue. The wider Malayalam language group is 7,74,057 (1.27%). Census 2011, table C-16. | 1.22% (7,45,903) | Census of India 2011 (C-16)2011 data |
| Malayalam mother-tongue speakers, Bengaluru Urban districtOf 96,21,551 residents. Census 2011, table C-16. | 2.94% (2,82,956) | Census of India 2011 (C-16)2011 data |
| Malayalam mother-tongue speakers, Bengaluru city (BBMP)Of 84,95,492 residents of the municipal corporation and its outgrowths. Census 2011, C-16 town table. | 3.16% (2,68,780) | Census of India 2011 (C-16, town level)2011 data |
| Malayalam mother-tongue speakers, Kodagu districtThe 25.57% figure sometimes quoted is the wider language group, which includes the Yerava tribal mother tongue. Census 2011, table C-16. | 20.83% (1,15,495) | Census of India 2011 (C-16)2011 data |
| Malayalam mother-tongue speakers, Dakshina Kannada districtMangaluru city (corporation and outgrowths) is 6.39% Malayalam, per the C-16 town table. Census 2011, table C-16. | 9.97% (2,08,232) | Census of India 2011 (C-16)2011 data |
| Karnataka's share of Malayalis who moved to another Indian stateIncludes 67,195 students; Karnataka also holds 50.8% of Malayali student out-migrants. Kerala Migration Survey 2023, as reported by Deccan Herald. | 45.2% (about 2.18 lakh) | Deccan Herald, reporting the Kerala Migration Survey 2023Jun 2024 |
| Malayalam share of India's gross box office, 2024Up from 5% in 2023. Ormax Media's annual box-office report. | 10% (1,165 crore rupees) | The Ormax Box Office Report 2024Jan 2025 |
| Malayalam gross box office in India, 2025Of an India total of 13,395 crore; Kannada grossed 528 crore (4%). Ormax Media's annual box-office report. | 1,164 crore rupees (9%) | The Ormax Box Office Report 2025Jan 2026 |
| Lokah Chapter 1: Chandra (2025), Karnataka grossClosing figures as reported by Pinkvilla: India gross 182.80 crore, worldwide 300 crore. A trade estimate, not audited ticket sales. | 14.85 crore rupees | Pinkvilla (closing box office)30 Oct 2025 |
Census figures are from 2011, the migration survey is cited as Deccan Herald reported it, and box-office amounts are trade estimates reported by the outlets named, not audited ticket sales.
Our pages have covered 8 Malayalam films in 17 posts between September 2022 and December 2025, with 15.6 lakh recorded views in total. None of these is a registered client campaign; each is our pages' own coverage.
Showing 6 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 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Golam Network coverage | 3 | 4.5 lakh views | Dashboard → |
| Marco Part 2 Network coverage | 1 | 4 lakh views | Dashboard → |
| Vrusshabha Network coverage | 3 | 3.3 lakh views | Dashboard → |
| Qalb Network coverage | 1 | 1.6 lakh views | Dashboard → |
| Kattalan Network coverage | 2 | 1.4 lakh views | Dashboard → |
| L2: Empuraan Network coverage | 1 | 60,020 views | 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 Malayalam films, so the two are not like for like. Method and full data: other-language films on Kannada pages.
The audience is concentrated, not spread thin. Census 2011 recorded Malayalam as the mother tongue of 2.94% of Bengaluru Urban district, 9.97% of Dakshina Kannada and 20.83% of Kodagu. The Kerala Migration Survey 2023, as reported by Deccan Herald, found that Karnataka holds 45.2% of Malayalis who have moved to another Indian state, about 2.18 lakh people, of whom 67,195 are students.
That audience watches late. In a 2023 Film Companion report on Malayalam films outside Kerala, a distributor said late-evening and night shows work best in Karnataka, because the audience there is largely working Malayalis. Sacnilk's Bengaluru figures for Manjummel Boys on day 15 show 14% occupancy in the morning against 49% at night. Bengaluru also carries many Malayalam shows: on day 6 of Bethlehem Kudumba Unit in August 2026, Sacnilk listed 121 Malayalam shows in Bengaluru, against 92 in Chennai and 56 in Mumbai. We plan posts and reminders for evenings and weekends, and plan creator work around colleges and workplaces.
The coast is a separate market. FilmiBeat, citing the tracker Karnataka Talkies, reported 97 opening-day shows of L2: Empuraan in Mangaluru alone. If your distributor is opening in Mangaluru or in Kodagu towns such as Madikeri, tell us, and the plan will name those places instead of treating Karnataka as Bengaluru.
Several Malayalam hits are set in Bengaluru. Anjali Menon's Bangalore Days (2014) follows three Kerala cousins who move to the city; American Bazaar reported it as the first Malayalam film to open on more than 100 screens outside Kerala. Jithu Madhavan's Romancham (2023) is set in a Bengaluru bachelors' hostel, and his Aavesham (2024) follows three Kerala students at a Bengaluru engineering college and a gangster whose lines mix Malayalam and Kannada. The South First reported on 23 April 2024, under two weeks after release, that Aavesham had grossed about 6 crore rupees in Bengaluru alone, against about 4 crore in all of Tamil Nadu, and credited the setting. On its day 11, Sacnilk listed 192 Malayalam shows in Bengaluru and 145 in Kochi.
A Bengaluru setting gives Kannada-speaking viewers an easy way in: a known street, a college, a Kannada line in the film. We build Kannada memes and reels from those moments once your team approves the clips. Closeness also raises the stakes. In September 2025 Wayfarer Films apologised after a villain's line in Lokah Chapter 1: Chandra was seen as demeaning to women of Karnataka, and said the dialogue would be edited or removed (The Week). Before a clip goes into a Kannada post, we flag lines or visuals that may land differently with a Karnataka audience, so your team can decide early.
Several recent Malayalam releases have reached Karnataka through Kannada banners. Hombale Films distributed L2: Empuraan and Aadujeevitham in the state. Wayfarer Films gave Lokah Chapter 1: Chandra to Raj B Shetty's Lighter Buddha Films, after Wayfarer had released Shetty's Kannada film Su From So in Kerala (NewsKarnataka). In 2023 KRG Studios bought Valatty's theatrical rights outside Kerala (Bollywood Hungama). Versions, cities and screens are settled with your Karnataka distributor; we plan to the dates they confirm.
Star films and content-led films behave differently. Sacnilk estimated L2: Empuraan's Karnataka opening-day gross at 4 crore rupees, ahead of Tamil Nadu and AP/TG that day. Lokah built instead: Sacnilk's state tables show its daily Karnataka gross rising from about 0.23 crore on day 1 to 1.10 crore on day 11, and Pinkvilla reported a Karnataka closing figure of 14.85 crore. NewsKarnataka also noted that the Bengaluru runs of Manjummel Boys and Aavesham drew Kannada viewers reading subtitles as well as Malayalis. Kannada-speaking viewers like these are the audience our pages address, which is why we suggest a second-week wave of memes, creator posts and reviews, not only trailer-week posts.
In the same 2023 Film Companion report, a distributor said most of a Malayalam film's marketing budget is spent inside Kerala, and the producer of the film 2018 said distributors outside the state prefer big-budget films to small, content-driven ones. A Karnataka plan does not need to repeat the Kerala campaign. It needs a clear job for each partner:
Our pages are Kannada-language and reach Kannada-speaking audiences, mainly in Karnataka. We do not run Malayalam pages, and we do not dub, subtitle, translate, distribute or book theatres. A Kannada caption describes the promotion's language; it does not mean a Kannada version of the film exists.
Before you schedule anything, read Karnataka release rules for other-language films (ticket prices, show timings, language versions and publicity rules, dated).
Confirm with your Karnataka distributor which versions open in which cities. We plan Kannada memes, reels and captions from approved trailer and song cuts, flag lines that may read badly in Karnataka, and line up creators and reviewers in Bengaluru. Posts are timed for evenings, ahead of the night shows that fill most in Bengaluru.
Opening-week posts follow the show listings your distributor confirms, city by city: Bengaluru first, then Mangaluru and Kodagu where the film is playing. Creator and reviewer posts go out after the first shows, and every post is recorded on a live dashboard so your team can see what went out and when.
Content-led Malayalam films can build in Karnataka after release: Sacnilk's tables show Lokah's daily Karnataka gross rising nearly fivefold between day 1 and day 11. We plan a second wave of memes from approved scenes, review round-ups and creator reactions, then share the dashboard with views or accounts reached for each post.
Not as their main audience. Our pages are Kannada-language and reach Kannada-speaking audiences, mainly in Karnataka. We cannot tell you how many Malayalis follow them, so we do not sell them as a Malayalam channel. Keep your home-market agency's Malayalam channels for Malayali viewers; we add reach among Kannada-speaking cinema-goers, some of whom watch Malayalam films with subtitles.
We do not publish prices. Cost depends on the number of pages and posts, the formats (reels need more production than static posts), creator and reviewer outreach, how many cities you want covered, the length of the campaign window and how quickly approvals come back. Send a brief with a budget range and we will propose a scope that lists each item.
As soon as your Karnataka distributor and release date are confirmed, ideally before the trailer. That leaves time to plan Kannada creative from approved assets and to line up creators. Keep some budget for the second week too: Sacnilk's figures put Lokah's daily Karnataka gross on day 11 at nearly five times its day 1 figure.
No. Whether to release a Kannada version is your decision with your distributor; we do not dub, subtitle or translate films. We plan Kannada-language promotion for whichever versions are confirmed. If only the Malayalam version is releasing, the posts make that clear, because a Kannada caption does not mean a Kannada version exists.
Every post is listed on a live dashboard with its link, date, format and either views or accounts reached. Views keep rising for weeks after a post, and reach added across posts can count the same account more than once. These are social-media figures, not ticket sales or box office.
No. Producers outside Bengaluru brief us by WhatsApp, email or phone on +91 63627 23785 or contact@southsidestudio.in. Our staff meet clients in person only in Bengaluru. You can write to us in Malayalam or English; 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.