The year 2022 emerged as a glorious year for the Indian cine industry after the distressing years owing to the pandemic. However, unlike in the past, Bollywood show faded in comparison to the South movie industries in 2022. Not just for the highest footfall of audience at the theatres or enthralling storyline or the larger-than-life presentation, south movies had an upper hand in terms of worldwide box office collection.
Several south movies emerged as blockbusters breaking the language barriers, and registered high success across the country as well as overseas. Here we bring the list of the top 12 south movies which emerged as the highest grosser of 2022.
1. KGF Chapter 2
Yash starrer KGF Chapter 2 made its way to grab the second position in the list of top-grosser Indian movies, just behind Baahubali: The Conclusion. The high-octane action thriller flick minted over Rs 1200 crore worldwide and remains the highest-grossing movie of 2022. KGF 2 emerged as the highest-grossing Kannada-origin movie.
2. RRR
South movie industry’s ace director SS Rajamouli has swiftly carved a niche for himself with several magnum opuses. His latest release RRR , starring Jr NTR and Ram Charan in the lead still remains the talk of the town after it recently got nominated for Golden Globe Awards in two categories. RRR’s lifetime global box office collection is Rs 1100 crore.
3. Ponniyin Selvan: I (PS I)
Mani Ratnam’s multi-starrer magnum opus Ponniyin Selvan: I, starring Chiyan Vikram, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Karthi, and Trisha Krishnan emerged as the most successful Tamil movie of the year. With over Rs 500 crore worldwide box office collections, the epic period action drama film set several new records.
4. Vikram
Kamal Haasan’s Vikram marked the stellar comeback of the Universal Hero or Ulaganayagan. Remaining just behind PS I, Vikram went on to become the second-highest Tamil movie with a worldwide box office collection of Rs 424.5 crore. Suriya’s cameo in the movie as Rolex was the icing on the cake.
5. Kantara
Rishab Shetty’s Kantara , another Kannada movie, minted Rs 406.75 crore globally and also registered several records on the global platform. The roaring success of Kantara proves that 2022 was quite lucky for the Kannada Film Industry.
6. Beast
Thalapathy Vijay and Pooja Hegde’s Beast was another movie from the south that tasted success with Rs 227.3 crore worldwide box office collection. Though some moviegoers were disappointed with the movie, the craze for Thalapathy helped the flick become one of the highest-grossing movies of the year.
7. Vikrant Rona
Kiccha Sudeep’s Vikrant Rona had a whopping lifetime collection of Rs 210 crore. The action-thriller Kannada movie, also starring Jacqueline Fernandez, was highly praised.
8. Sarkaru Vaari Paata
Mahesh Babu’s Sarkaru Vaari Paata minted over Rs 192.4 crore at the worldwide box office. Also starring Keerty Suresh, Sarkaru Vaari Paata was among the movies with the highest day-one opening collection (Rs 50 crore).
9. Valimai
High-octane action thriller Valimai, starring Ajith Kumar, raked over Rs 163.2 crore at the box office.
10. Bheemla Nayak
Pawan Kalyan and Rana Daggubati starrer Bheemla Nayak emerged as a box office wonder with over Rs 161.3 crore box office collection globally.
11. Radhe Shyam
Prabhas and Pooja Hegde starrer Radhe Shyam failed to impress a specific section of the audience. It miserably failed at the box office too. Though it is unclear about the actual worldwide box office collection of Radhe Shyam, certain media reports claimed that the movie’s lifetime collection was Rs 156.8 crore while the makers claimed that the movie earned Rs 400 crore in 10 days.
12. Karthikeya 2
Karthikeya 2 , starring Nikhil Siddhartha, Anupama Parameswaran, and Anupam Kher, registered a phenomenal success. Made at a mere budget of Rs 30 crore, the movie had a good collection of Rs 120 crore, globally.
Apart from the above-mentioned movies, several other movies from the South film industries created a huge buzz across the nation. For instance, Rakshit Shetty’s Charlie 777 emerged unexpectedly to become one of the biggest Kannada blockbusters. The flick minted over Rs 105 crore while it was made at a mere budget of Rs 20 crore.