With only one film scoring major success at the box office, Bollywood’s performance in the first quarter of this year is far from impressive
Rishabh Suri (HINDUSTAN TIMES; April 2, 2025)

Bollywood’s box office ‘report card’ for the first quarter of 2025 projects a rather bleak picture. Only one film has done extraordinary business in the first three months of this year — Chhaava, featuring Vicky Kaushal in the lead role. Two other films have just about managed to draw audiences to the theatres — Akshay Kumar’s Sky Force and The Diplomat, starring John Abraham.

Compare this to the corresponding period last year, and there were multiple hits such as Shaitaan, Article 370, and Crew. The industry is understandably unhappy.

Talking about Sikandar, the big-ticket Eid release, trade analyst Taran Adarsh says, “One didn’t expect this performance from a Salman Khan film. It started off okay due to the Eid holiday, but the foundation is weak for the numbers to sustain in the weekdays. Also, the BOGO and free ticket offers for the film are very unfortunate. It shows the phase the industry is going through.”

The silver lining
Amit Sharma, managing director of Miraj Cinemas, however, is optimistic: “After five years of struggle, we now have a release every week. It’s a spread-out calendar unlike last year, when multiple films released on the same day.”

There’s room for improvement in the second quarter, feels Devang Sampat, CEO, Cinepolis Cinemas. “Q2 looks very good, especially the combination of Hollywood and Bollywood films will give a huge boost this summer,” he says.
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“I won’t say that there should be a Chhaava every week, it’s not possible. We needed more hits; we can’t survive on one hit or one plus film to carry us till the next quarter.”
- Taran Adarsh

“It’s important for films like The Diplomat (to earn) because we have only about 10-15 tentpole releases in a year. The exhibition sector needs smaller films to do well to stay afloat.”
- Akkshay Rathie
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MAJOR RELEASES SO FAR

Chhaava: Rs. 545 crore
Sky Force: Rs. 131.44 crore
The Diplomat: Rs. 30 crore (still running in theatres)
Deva: Rs. 32 crore
Badass Ravi Kumar: Rs. 9.66 crore
Sikandar: Rs. 55 crore (still running in theatres)
(All figures according to Box Office India and trade estimates)