 | |
| Company type | Privately held company |
|---|---|
| Industry | Entertainment |
| Founded | 2012 |
| Founder | Vijay Kiragandur |
| Headquarters | , India |
Key people |
|
| Products | Films |
| Divisions | |
| Website | hombalefilms |
Hombale Films (pronunciation: Hom-Baa-Lay) is an Indian film production company mainly known for the K.G.F franchise, Kantara and Salaar . It was founded by Vijay Kiragandur and named by Puneeth Rajkumar, who collaborated with the company on 3 films. [1]
Hombale Films was founded by Vijay Kiragandur and Chaluve Gowda, entrepreneurs from Bangalore. Hombale Film's first production endeavour was the Kannada film Ninnindale in 2014, starring Puneeth Rajkumar. Their next venture was Masterpiece , starring Yash, in 2015. Their third venture Raajakumara was directed by Santhosh Ananddram, and became the top grossing Kannada film at the time. It reportedly grossed more than Rs. 75 crores in the Karnataka box office and was an industry hit. [2]
Hombale Films' fourth film was K.G.F: Chapter 1 directed by Prashanth Neel of Ugramm fame. This film was released in five languages across India: Kannada, Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam, and Hindi. K.G.F: Chapter 1 was very successful at the box office, becoming the first Kannada film to enter the ₹200 crore club worldwide and collected more than ₹250 crores. It is now the third-highest grossing film of Kannada cinema. [3] [4]
Hombale Films' next venture was Yuvarathnaa in 2021, which marked their third collaboration with Puneeth Rajkumar, and second collaboration with director Santhosh Ananddram. Yuvarathnaa released on 1 April 2021 in Kannada and Telugu, and was made available on Amazon Prime Video shortly after due to the COVID-19 pandemic. [5] Yuvarathnaa marked Hombale Films' first foray into music production, under the label Hombale Music.
Their next film was the sequel to K.G.F: Chapter 1 , K.G.F: Chapter 2 . Yash reprised his lead role from the first film and Hindi actor Sanjay Dutt enacted the antagonist, Adheera, marking his debut in Kannada and South Indian cinema. It released on 14 April 2022, barely 3 weeks after RRR , and grossed more than ₹1200 crores worldwide. [6] It became the highest-grossing film of Kannada cinema.
Their next film of the year was Kantara , which was written, directed, and acted by Rishab Shetty. It released on 30 September 2022 to positive reviews. Made with a budget of ₹16 crores, it ended up grossing more than ₹400 crores worldwide. It ended up becoming the second-highest grossing film of Kannada cinema, however, it had the highest amount of footfalls for any Kannada film, beating K.G.F: Chapter 2.
| † | Denotes films that have not yet been released |
| Year | Film | Director | Language | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | Ninnindale | Jayanth C. Paranjee | Kannada | |
| 2015 | Masterpiece | Manju Mandavya | ||
| 2017 | Raajakumara | Santhosh Ananddram | ||
| 2018 | K.G.F: Chapter 1 | Prashanth Neel | ||
| 2021 | Yuvarathnaa | Santhosh Ananddram | ||
| 2022 | K.G.F: Chapter 2 | Prashanth Neel | ||
| Kantara | Rishab Shetty | |||
| 2023 | Raghavendra Stores | Santhosh Ananddram | ||
| Dhoomam | Pawan Kumar | Malayalam | ||
| Salaar: Part 1 – Ceasefire | Prashanth Neel | Telugu | ||
| 2024 | Yuva | Santhosh Ananddram | Kannada | [7] |
| Bagheera† | Dr. Suri | Completed; [8] | ||
| Richard Antony: Lord of the Sea† | Rakshit Shetty | Completed [9] | ||
| Kantara: Chapter 1 † | Rishab Shetty | Filming [10] | ||
| 2025 | Salaar: Part 2 – Shouryaanga Parvam† | Prashanth Neel | Telugu | Filming [11] |
Kannada cinema, also known as Sandalwood, or Chandanavana, is the segment of Indian cinema dedicated to the production of motion pictures in the Kannada language widely spoken in the state of Karnataka. Kannada cinema is based in Gandhi Nagar, Bangalore. The 1934 film Sati Sulochana directed by Y. V. Rao was the first talkie film released in the Kannada language. It was also the first film starring Subbaiah Naidu and Tripuramba, and the first screened in the erstwhile Mysore Kingdom. It was produced by Chamanlal Doongaji, who in 1932 founded South India Movietone in Bangalore.
Prashanth Neelakantapuram popularly known as Prashanth Neel, is an Indian film director and screenwriter who in Kannada and Telugu language movies. He made his debut with the 2014 Kannada film, Ugramm and later directed the two-part film series: KGF: Chapter 1 (2018), KGF: Chapter 2 (2022), which became the highest-grossing Kannada film, and Salaar: Part 1 – Ceasefire (2023), his first and only Telugu film.
Santhosh Ananddram is a lyricist, screenwriter, director who works in Kannada cinema. His debut films was Mr. and Mrs. Ramachari in 2014. He has directed Raajakumara starring Puneeth Rajkumar in Raajakumara and Yuvarathnaa. Raajakumara was a blockbuster in Kannada cinema.
Srinidhi Ramesh Shetty is an Indian actress and model. She is the winner of the Miss Supranational 2016 pageant. She is the second Indian representative to have won this title. Shetty has a SIIMA Award in addition to a nomination at Filmfare Awards South. As an actress, Shetty has played the leading lady in the top-grossing Kannada action films K.G.F: Chapter 1 (2018) and K.G.F: Chapter 2 (2022), and won the SIIMA Award for Best Actress – Kannada for the latter.
Raajakumara is a 2017 Indian Kannada-language action drama film written and directed by Santhosh Ananddram and produced by Vijay Kiragandur under Hombale Films. It stars Puneeth Rajkumar and Priya Anand. R. Sarathkumar, Ananth Nag, Prakash Raj, Chikkanna, Sadhu Kokila, Achyuth Kumar and Avinash play supporting roles. The film's music album was composed by V. Harikrishna.
KGF: Chapter 1 is a 2018 Indian Kannada-language period action film written and directed by Prashanth Neel, and produced by Vijay Kiragandur under the banner of Hombale Films. It is the first installment in the KGF series, followed by KGF: Chapter 2. The film features an ensemble cast including Yash, Ramachandra Raju, Srinidhi Shetty, Vasishta N. Simha, Achyuth Kumar, Anant Nag, Archana Jois, Malavika Avinash, T. S. Nagabharana, Ayyappa P. Sharma, John Kokken, Lakki Lakshman, B.S Avinash, Tarak Ponnappa, B. Suresha and Dinesh Mangaluru. Filmed on a budget of ₹80 crore, it was the most expensive Kannada film at the time of its release. In the film, Rocky, a high-ranking mercenary, working for a prominent gold mafia in Bombay, seeks power and wealth in order to fulfill his mother's promise. Due to his high fame, the leaders of the gold mafia where he works hire him to assassinate Garuda, the son of the founder of Kolar Gold Fields.
KGF: Chapter 2 is a 2022 Indian Kannada-language period action film written and directed by Prashanth Neel, and produced by Vijay Kiragandur under the banner Hombale Films. The second installment in a three-part series, it serves as a sequel to the 2018 film KGF: Chapter 1. The film stars an ensemble cast of Yash, Sanjay Dutt, Raveena Tandon, Srinidhi Shetty, Prakash Raj, Achyuth Kumar, Rao Ramesh, Vasishta N. Simha, Ayyappa P. Sharma, Archana Jois, Saran Shakti, Easwari Rao, John Kokken, T.S Nagabharana and Malavika Avinash.
Yuvarathnaa is a 2021 Indian Kannada-language action drama film directed by Santhosh Ananddram and produced by Vijay Kiragandur under the banner of Hombale Films. The film stars Puneeth Rajkumar, Sayyeshaa, Dhananjay, Prakash Raj, Diganth and P. Sai Kumar. The music was composed by S. Thaman, while the cinematography and editing was handled by A. Venkatesh and Jnaanesh B. Matad respectively.
James is a 2022 Indian Kannada-language action drama film directed by Chethan Kumar and produced by Kishore Pathikonda under Kishore Productions. It stars Puneeth Rajkumar in the titlular role, along with an ensemble cast of R. Sarathkumar, Srikanth, Priya Anand, Anu Prabhakar, Madhusudhan Rao, Mukesh Rishi, Adithya Menon, Avinash Yelandur, Sadhu Kokila, Chikkanna and John Kokken. The film marks Puneeth Rajkumar's posthumous appearance following his death on 29 October 2021 and also marked the second collaboration between Puneeth Rajkumar, Priya Anand and Sarathkumar after Raajakumara (2017). The score and soundtrack were composed by V. Harikrishna and Charan Raj, while the cinematography and editing were handled by Swamy. J. Gowda and Deepu. S. Kumar.
Salaar: Part 1 – Ceasefire (transl. Commander) is a 2023 Indian Telugu-language epic neo-noir action film written and directed by Prashanth Neel and produced by Vijay Kiragandur. The film stars an ensemble cast including Prabhas, Prithviraj Sukumaran, Shruti Haasan, Jagapathi Babu, Bobby Simha, Sriya Reddy, John Vijay, Tinnu Anand, Easwari Rao, Ramachandra Raju, Brahmaji, Devaraj, Mime Gopi, Saurav Lokesh, Vajrang Shetty and Pramod Panju. Set in the fictional dystopian city-state of Khansaar, where Monarchy still exists. The film follows the friendship between Deva (Prabhas), the exiled prince of Khansaar, and Varadha (Prithviraj), the current prince of Khansaar. When a coup d'état is planned by his father's ministers and his relatives, Varadha enlists Deva's help to become Khansaar's undisputed ruler.
Yuvarathnaa is the soundtrack album composed by S. Thaman for the 2021 Indian Kannada-language film of the same name, starring Puneeth Rajkumar. The film marks Thaman's third collaboration with Puneeth after working with him in Power (2014) and Chakravyuha (2016).
KGF is an Indian Kannada language period action film series set mostly in the Kolar Gold Fields, which gives the series its name, created by Prashanth Neel and produced by Hombale Films starring Yash in lead role with an ensemble supporting cast. Set in the late 1970s and early 1980s, the series follows two narrators, Anand Ingalangi and his son Vijayendra Ingalangi, who gives an interview of a book written by Anand to a leading news channel, which tells the life story of Raja Krishnappa Bairya alias Rocky (Yash), a Mumbai-based high ranking mercenary born in poverty and how he became the most dreaded person at that time.
Kantara is a 2022 Indian Kannada-language action thriller film written and directed by Rishab Shetty, and produced by Vijay Kiragandur, under Hombale Films. The film stars Rishab Shetty in a dual role with Kambala champion who is at loggerheads with an upright forest officer, Murali.
Sapthami Gowda is an Indian actress who works primarily in Kannada Cinema. She made her acting debut with the 2020 film Popcorn Monkey Tiger directed by Duniya Suri and is known for her role of Leela in Kantara, directed by Rishab Shetty in 2022.
Yuva is a 2024 Indian Kannada-language action drama film directed by Santhosh Ananddram and produced by Vijay Kiragandur under Hombale Films. The film, which marks the fourth collaboration of Santhosh Ananddram and Hombale Films, stars Yuva Rajkumar in his lead acting debut, while Sapthami Gowda, Achyuth Kumar, Gopal Krishna Deshpande, Sudharani and Kishore appear in supporting roles.