Border 2 saw the best opening ever for Bollywood since last year's Chhaava.
Chhaava has entered the prestigious Rs 500 Crore (Rs 5 billion) Club and with that, it joins the likes of Pushpa 2, Stree 2, Jawan, Animal, Gadar 2, Pathaan and Baahubali 2 to have achieved this feat.
January and February surpassed the monthly domestic box collection on a year-on-year basis.
2025 started with a blockbuster in Chhaava and ended with an even bigger one in Dhurandhar. There have been other Hindi hits too, and we take a look at the Top 10.
Months after the last big success in the Hindi film industry, Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3, there is another big one running successfully in theatres.
Chhaava deserves 2 stars for the historically half-baked film that it is, but 4 stars just for its attempt on making a film on Sambhaji, observes Prasanna D Zore.
Chhaava has entered the Rs 100 crore (Rs 1 billion) club in just three days.
It collected Rs 13.30 crore (Rs 133 million) on Friday, and zoomed past Rs 20 crore (Rs 200 million) on Saturday and Sunday.
From Ramayana Part 1 and Alpha to King and Toxic, here's why the next six months could be one of Indian cinema's most exciting line-ups in years.
Ten days after its release, Chhaava continues to dominate theatres.
'With Chhaava, we had to look from a different lens.' 'We had to write it in such a way that apart from the sacrifice, the fight and the war, there's a lot more to understand about the history of the Marathas.'
From Bandit Queen to Dhurandhar, these Indian films pushed cinematic violence to shocking, stomach-churning extremes.
Let's see what the festive box office finally brings us.
With 17 films crossing the Rs 100 crore mark in the first six months, this year relied less on big-ticket blockbusters.
Look at the blockbusters the actress, who turned 29 on April 5, has delivered.
In times when films have struggled to score Rs 50 crore (Rs 500 million) in their first weekend, this Ranveer Singh-led multi-starrer has done that in its fourth weekend, which is unprecedented.
Chhaava enters the Rs 500 crore (Rs 5 billion) club, and is the biggest hit of Vicky Kaushal's career so far.
'The war in the trenches and the tank sequences were difficult.'
Indian films are set to cross A$39 million at the Australian box office in 2025, outperforming local cinema and becoming the third-largest after the US and UK.
'Established filmmakers want to go with the sequels of earlier hit films like Housefull 5 or Mastiii 4. They don't want to come up with fresh ideas. This is pure laziness.'
A R Rahman feels a power shift may have happened in the past eight years, as 'people who are not creative have the power now to decide things.'
Last week's release, John Abraham's The Diplomat, has surprised everyone by attracting fair footfalls.
The first quarter has scored mostly flops, with just one blockbuster (Chhaava) and a smattering of those which have recovered costs.
It was a decent extended weekend for Sunny Deol-starrer Jaat as Rs 40 crore* (Rs 400 million) came in.
'I often give myself a pat on the shoulder, reminding myself that I've done a good job considering where I started and the mindset I grew up with.'
How did the box office fare? Well, the second half of the year looks much better than the first!
Over-the-top platforms make it difficult for movies to run for long periods on the silver screen, thus hurting the cinema industry.
As the year draws to a close, Rediff's Senior Contributor Roshmila Bhattacharya takes a look at the hits and misses, the highs and lows, the newsmakers and the dealbreakers in alphabetical order.
'We don't make films for profit and that's exactly why profit follows.'
The year had a variety of films to choose from. Not all of them were successful at the box office, but had merit.
'If a survey were conducted, many people wouldn't understand the concept.' 'Thanks to Rangeen, a conversation has started.'
'Audiences are loyal to good content.'
With husband Vicky Kaushal's Chhaava doing so well at the box office, Katrina Kaif seems to be just as grateful, as she heads to the Maha Kumbh Mela with mother-in-law Veena Kaushal.
'We're witnessing a consistent surge in audience demand for IMAX screenings, particularly for high-octane, spectacle-driven films.'
The blazing success of Vicky Kaushal's Chhaava has laid out a path for more eventful year at the movies, as an exciting line-up of historical biopics queue up for the big screen.
'Salman's bad phase is going on for the last five-six years.'
'Social media managers, bouncers, their catering department people... they tell the actor whether he should do a film or not.'
