2025 has been a mixed year so far. It was replete with box-office highs like Chhaava (the biopic on Emperor Shambhaji, the much-misinterpreted Maratha son of Chhatrapati Shivaji) and Saiyaara. Raid 2, Sitaare Zameen Par, Housefull 5 and, at audience level, Sky Force, Jaat and Kesari 2 also did well (When we say ‘audience level’ it means that the ROI or return of investment was not there, but the theatrical collections were good). The Diplomat did average business, while Metro…In Dino may finally break even.
Mahavtar Narsimha, the small-budget Kannada mythological in multiple languages emerged as the latest small wonder and has already grossed (in all versions) over Rs. 300 crore (about $34.015 million) on a Rs. 40 crore (about $4.535 million) production budget. However, other South movies like Coolie, Thug Life, Kanappa and Kuberaa fared disastrously in Hindi.
Lows
The shocking lows this year in Hindi include Sikandar, Fateh, Son of Sardaar 2, Devaa, Maalik and now War 2. Maa and Superboys of Malegaon also lost out. The films that deserved better fates included Emergency, Tanvi—The Great, Loveyapa, Nikita Roy and Dhadak 2.
The OTT side
Dhoom Dhaam (on Netflix), Ground Zero, Dil Dosti Aur Dogs and The Storyteller were the most engaging movies on OTT, but as we all know, the business side of these releases cannot be accurately gauged.
Come September
September witnesses some exciting releases, so one hopes it will be bountiful. The first Friday will get for us what is touted as the darkest (read most brutal!) installment of the Baaghi franchise—Baaghi 4. Directed by newbie A. Harsha, the film stars Tiger Shroff with Sonam Bajwa (who made her Hindi debut with Housefull 5and reigns in Punjabi cinema) and introduces beauty queen Harnaaz Sandhu. Sanjay Dutt plays the vicious antagonist.
Clashing with it is the forthright, already-applauded-in-USA film, The Bengal Files, which completes filmmaker Vivek Agnoihotri’s …Files trilogy of exposes. Featuring Mithun Chakraborty, Pallavi Agnihotri and Anupam Kher, it is already sparking controversy and debate.
On the same day, OTT promises a light entertainer in Netflix’s Inspector Zende, with Manoj Bajpayee top-lining the cast and Marathi writer-director Chinmay Mandlekar making his national debut.
September 12 will see two modest rom-coms: Umesh Shukla’s Heer Express and Rajat Kazmi’s Love In Vietnam: star-less films hoping to ride on content. Interestingly indeed, Shukla will compete with himself with the bigger film, Ek Chatur Naar featuring Neil Nitin Mukesh and Divya Khossla for T-Series, also hitting screens that day. (The last time we had a director having two releases in the same week was Priyadarshan in Garam Masala and Kyon Ki… in Diwali 2005. Earlier, Umesh Mehra had Sohni Mahiwal and Teri Baahon Mein hitting screens on the same Friday in 1984!)
The next biggie will be Jolly LLB 3 on September 19. In a very interesting franchise follow-up, we see lawyers Arshad Warsi (who was the first Jolly in Jolly LLB in 2013) and Akshay Kumar (who was Jolly LLB 2in 2017) lock horns on screen. Saurabh Shukla, common to both films as the irascible yet helpless judge, also comes in along with characters seen in both films reprising their roles!
November 7 promises the next Sriram Raghavan thriller, Ikkis, which is his first biopic as the story of Second-Lieutenant Arun Khetrapal. Set against the India-Pakistan war of 1971, it stars Dharmendra and—in the title-role and his first big-screen release—Agastya Nanda, Amitabh Bachchan’s grandson, who made his debut last year with the OTT release, The Archies. The film has massive expectations as Raghavan is rarely known to disappoint.
Ajay Devgn’s De De Pyaar De 2 co-starring Rakul Preet Singh again (after the prequel) with R. Madhavan, 120 Bahadur, another war biopic featuring Farhan Akhtar and Raashii Khanna and Aanand L. Rai’s Tere Ishk Mein with Kriti Sanon opposite Dhanush are also slated for November.
December seems to be low on releases as of now. It will begin with the latest Vishal Bhardwaj film, Romeo, which reunites Bhardwaj with Shahid Kapoor after Kaminey, Haider and Rangoon. This time, Nana Patekar, Randeep Hooda and Triptii Dimri come in as well.
But Bhardwaj, with his mid-stream and noir-like sensibilities, will face a tough battle with Aditya (URI—The Surgical Strike) Dhar’s ensemble-cast actioner, Dhurandhar. Featuring Ranveer Singh in the title-role in a story “inspired by real events”, the movie has Sanjay Dutt, Akshaye Khanna, Arjun Rampal and R. Madhavan and will introduce Sara Arjun (daughter of Raj Arjun of Secret Superstar fame) as leading lady.
‘Occasion’al Highs
Occasions like Gandhi Jayanti, Dusshera, Diwali and Christmas are considered coveted premium release dates for which filmmakers can even tussle with each other. Here’s looking at the fare we are going to get this year.
Sunny Sanskari Ki Tulsi Kumari is the rom-com set for October 2, which is Dusshera too. Directed by Shashank Khaitan (of the …Ki Dulhania Karan Johar franchise), it reunites him with Varun Dhawan (who played Humpty Sharma and Badrinath in those films) who co-stars with Janhvi Kapoor.
An industry veteran has rued the absence of a ‘big’ blockbuster in Diwali week. But he might be underestimating the prospects of Dinesh Vijan’s horror romance, Thama, featuring Ayushmaan Khurrana and Rashmika Mandanna, which hits screens October 21. That is Maharashtra’s most important Diwali date (New Year) followed by Bhai Dooj on October 22.
The film will clash with the modest-budgeted Ek Deewane ki Deewaniyat starring Harshvardhan Rane and Sonam Bajwa. The makers of this film indeed seem very confident as they are facing Vijan’s horror universe. Vijan has produced the highest grossers of this year—Chhaava—as well as 2024—Stree 2.
Christmas will fetch Yash Raj Films’ first female-driven Spy Universe movie, Alpha. Alia Bhatt and Sharvari Wagh are the protagonists in this Shiv Rawail (who directed YRF’s outstanding series The Railway Men last year) directorial also starring Anil Kapoor and Bobby Deol.
