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It was a long-felt desire. The need to answer detractors who said that Hindi cinema was finito and Telugu and South cinemas were supreme. In a crazy scenario, Hindi cinema, viewed around the country, was making less money collectively than Telugu films, viewed only down South, mainly in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh! The crazy part lay in the absolutely obvious fact that just a tiny fraction of these Telugu movies was dubbed in Hindi and watched across the country!
Absurd, as some would say, even if Telugu releases generally outnumbered Hindi ones. Across long phases of box-office bleakness, many a Hindi filmmaker, distributor, exhibitor or trade analyst would wax eloquent on this turgid scenario over the last many years.
But now—it has happened!
The chart displayed by “Variety India” and taken from Sacnilk, the box-office barometer, says it all. In the first quarter of 2026, Hindi cinema has taken a spectacular lead! With around 30 releases in three months, it has done a net (after deducting entertainment tax) business of Rs. 1485.07 crore, while Telugu cinema lags at Rs. 586.84 crore despite 37 films.
The rest of the tallies are also pathetic: 46 Tamil films netted less than Rs. 270 crore, Malayalam cinema was even more sad with 58 films making Rs. 148 crore, followed by English (Rs. 53.52 crore and 26 films) and Kannada having 47 films collecting Rs. 38.46 crore!
(These figures do not see any significant difference in the fortnight that has elapsed, as per Sacnilk.)
However, we must add here that in the figure mentioned, “Border 2” made over Rs. 300 crore and Mardaani 3 did over Rs. 50 crore. The rest of the releases had nothing significant to offer, except O’Romeo notching upwards of Rs. 70 crore that was still below average for its budget.
And so the single cinematic miracle responsible for fulfilling this long-cherished dream for Hindi cinema was Dhurandhar—The Revenge, which had crossed Rs. 950 crore by March 31. The film is doing astonishing business even globally. It was the first-ever Hindi film to net Rs. 90 crore (over Rs. 100 crore gross) in India and $ 5.5 million overseas on opening day.
It is indeed time to cheer!
