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India 2025 First Half Box Office & Upcoming Films

Liz Shackleton

25 Jul 2025 — 8 min read

Chhaava

This edition of Streamlined is looking at India’s box office results in the first half of 2025, along with current hit Saiyaara and upcoming films until the end of the year. While South Indian cinema has been performing well in recent years, there are reasons for India’s Hindi-language industry to also feel some relief this year, although even the most optimistic Bollywood pundits are not claiming full-blown recovery just yet.

The second part of the Streamlined Guide to Asian Co-production Funds will be published early next week, including some additional research on Japan’s subsidy systems. Huge thanks to Streamlined readers’ enthusiastic response to this report, which makes it clear that there’s a big gap in objective reporting about funding sources. Streamlined Guides aims to produce more reports on film finance in the future. Let me know if there’s anything you’d like me to research.

Indian Box Office Up 14% In First Half Headed By ‘Chhaava’

India’s box office was up by 14% year-on-year to $662.44m (INR57.23bn) in the first half of 2025, according to figures from Ormax Media, with 17 films crossing the symbolic $11.5m (INR1bn) benchmark compared to just 10 in January-June 2024.

Chhaava, a Hindi-language historical epic starring Vicky Kaushal and produced by Maddock Films, was by far the biggest film, grossing $80m following its February 14 release. In comparison, the second biggest film, Telugu-language action comedy Sankranthiki Vasthunam, released during the Sankranti festival on January 14, grossed $25.7m, while third-placed Sitaare Zameen Par, a remake of Spanish film Champions starring and produced by Aamir Khan, took $23m.

A biopic of Maratha king Chhatrapati Sambhaji Maharaj, Chhaava is a well-made film, but has a nationalistic theme that no doubt helped its box office success. Sambhaji, played by Kaushal, was the second king of the Hindu Maratha Empire and fought against Aurangzeb, the emperor of the Muslim Mughal Emperor, thus playing neatly into current political tropes.

Maddock Films was already a hugely successful production company – scoring hits last year with two installments in its horror comedy franchise, Stree 2 and Munjya – before veering into nationalistic filmmaking this year, first with war drama Sky Force, starring Akshay Kumar, and then with Chhaava. In today’s Bollywood, it’s difficult to know whether churning out a few propaganda movies is a condition of survival or just makes sound box office sense. While Chhaava does attempt a few shades of nuance, the film unfortunately sparked anti-Muslim riots in the Indian state of Maharashtra where Aurangzeb’s tomb is located.

But back to box office figures. Ormax noted that this year has yielded a more steady of flow of films achieving the $11.5m (INR1bn) benchmark compared to last year. June was a steady month with gross collections crossing $104m (INR9bn) with hits including Sitaare Zameen Par and Housefull 5, the latest installment in a long-running comedy franchise. Ormax also noted that over the last two years, the January to June period has contributed 42% to annual box office, meaning that the full year could end up on $1.56bn (INR135bn), which would break all time records.

However, small and medium budget films continue to struggle as audiences turn to streaming platforms and become much more selective about what they’ll watch in a cinema, much like everywhere else in the world. Even some of the bigger-budget films with major stars performed below expectations in the first half. Aamir Khan had a reprieve of sorts with Sitaare Zameen Par, but Salman Khan’s Sikandar did not do so well, suggesting that his brand of machismo and swagger is starting to look dated in an age in which audiences seem to prefer stories that are relatable and emotionally resonant.

The highest-grossing Hollywood film was Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning with $14m (a decent result for a foreign film but on the same level as Sikandar, which was considered a flop). Hollywood achieved a 10% market share, a return to double digit figures for the first time since 2022, with Hindi leading on a 39% share, followed by Telugu and Tamil at 19% and 17%, respectively.

Malayalam cinema continues to do well with a 10% market share and two titles in the top ten – Tharun Moorthy’s Thudarum and Prithviraj Sukumaran’s L2E Empuraan, both action dramas starring Mohanlal. The latter film also touches on Hindu-Muslim conflict but fell foul of right-wing political groups because they thought it had an anti-Hindu political agenda.

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Second Half Off To Strong Start With Yash Raj Films’ ‘Saiyaara’

So far, the second half of 2025 is looking promising with Yash Raj Films’ romantic drama Saiyaara breaking records (at least for a film headed by newcomers) since its July 18 release. Directed by Mohit Suri, the film stars Ahaan Panday, a self-confessed nepo-baby making his debut as a tortured musician and Aneet Padda (Big Girls Don’t Cry) as the new love of his life who tragically falls sick. At the time of writing, the film was reportedly closing in on $20m (INR1.73bn) at the box office and doesn’t have any real competition until Ajay Devgn comedy sequel Son Of Sardaar 2 on August 1.

Two big films are being lined up for release around India’s Independence Day: Yash Raj Films’ War 2 (August 14), the latest installment in its YRF Spy Universe starring Hrithik Roshan and RRR star N. T. Rama Rao Jr.; and Sun Pictures’ Coolie (August 14), starring Tamil cinema superstar Rajinikanth. Originally also in an Independence Day slot, Vivek Agnihtri’s The Bengal Files has been split into two parts with the first part moved to September 5. The film is the third installment in a trilogy following The Tashkent Files and The Kashmir Files that have also set off anti-Muslim violence.

Two notable releases are scheduled for September 19: Jolly LLB 3, the third installment in a popular legal comedy franchise, starring Akshay Kumar; and Anurag Kashyap’s crime drama Nishaanchi, produced by Jar Pictures for Amazon Prime Video but being treated to a theatrical window before streaming.

The Dussehra holiday sees the release of Rishab Shetty’s highly anticipated Kannada-language prequel Kantara: A Legend Chapter 1 (October 2), produced by Bangalore-based Hombale Films. Releases expected for Diwali include Thama, the latest installment in the Maddock Films horror comedy franchise, starring Aysuhmann Khurrana, with a few other titles hovering around this key date but not so far confirming release.

The last two months of the year also look promising with three big films set for a face off on December 5: Telugu-language romantic horror comedy The Raja Saab, starring Prabhas; Jio Studios’ action thriller Dhurandhar with Ranveer Singh; and Vishal Bhardwaj’s as-yet-untitled gangster pic, starring Shahid Kapoor.

Other films scheduled for the end of the year include Excel Entertainment’s war drama 120 Bahadur (November 21), starring Farhan Akhtar (fighting China this time, a change from Pakistan); T-Series Films’ Dhanush starrer Tere Iskh Mein (November 28); and Yash Raj Films’ Alpha (December 25), starring Alia Bhatt and billed at the first female led YRF Spy Universe film. Then we have James Cameron’s Avatar: Fire And Ash on December 19.

Of course we can expect the release dates of all of these films to change several times before the end of the year, but there appears to be plenty of big ticket titles across all three major industries (Hindi, Tamil and Telugu) to keep the turnstiles spinning. This might yet turn out to be a record-breaking year.

INDIA BOX OFFICE JANUARY-JUNE 2025 TOP FILMS:

[Source: Ormax Media]

1.Chhaava (Hindi) $80.21m (INR6.93bn)

2.Sankranthiki Vasthunam (Telugu) $25.70m (INR2.22bn)

3.Sitaare Zameen Par (Hindi) $23.27m (INR2.01bn)

4.Housefull 5 (Hindi) $23.15m (INR2bn)

5.Raid 2 (Hindi) $23.03m (INR1.99bn)

6.Good Bad Ugly (Tamil) $21.18m (INR1.83bn)

7.Game Changer (Telugu) $17.71m (INR1.53bn)

8.Thudarum (Malayalam) $16.67m (INR1.44bn)

9.Sky Force (Hindi) $15.05m (INR1.3bn)

10.L2E Empuraan (Malayalam) $14.58m (INR1.26bn)

11.Dragon (Tamil) $14.12m (INR1.22bn)

12.Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning (English) $14.01m (INR1.21bn)

13.Sikandar (Hindi) $14.01m (INR1.21bn)

14.Daaku Maharaaj (Telugu) $12.62m (INR1.09bn)

15.Kesari Chapter 2 (Hindi) $12.62m (INR1.09bn)

16.Kuberaa (Telugu, Tamil) $12.27m (INR1.06bn)

17. Jaat (Hindi, Telugu) $11.92m (INR1.03bn)

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IN THE TRADES:

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Indian Box Office Up 14% In First Half Headed By ‘Chhaava’

Second Half Off To Strong Start With Yash Raj Films’ ‘Saiyaara’

INDIA BOX OFFICE JANUARY-JUNE 2025 TOP FILMS:

IN THE TRADES:

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Read more

Japan & Korea 2025 First Half Box Office & Upcoming Films

‘The Way We Talk’, ‘Family Matters’ Take Top Awards At NYAFF

Streamlined Guides: Asia Co-Production Funds Part Two

Palestinian Drama ‘All That’s Left Of You’ Awarded Best Film At MIFFEST