The year 2023 proved lucky for Bollywood and Shah Rukh Khan led the way with "Pathaan" and "Jawan". However, amidst high expectations, there were also some big titles that failed to capitalise on the great theatrical boom of Hindi movies post pandemic, ultimately falling flat at the box office.
The year 2023 proved lucky for Bollywood and Shah Rukh Khan led the way with "Pathaan" and "Jawan". However, amidst high expectations, there were also some big titles that failed to capitalise on the great theatrical boom of Hindi movies post pandemic, ultimately falling flat at the box office.
Here is the list of some of the major hits and misses of 2023.
Hits
1. "Pathaan" and "Jawan": With the two action titles, Shah Rukh made a triumphant return to leading man roles after a gap of four years. "Pathaan", directed by Siddharth Anand, released in theatres in January and shattered many box office records in the opening weekend and ended its theatrical run with a towering gross box office collection of over Rs 1,050 crore. It also starred Deepika Padukone and John Abraham,
"Jawan", a high-octane action entertainer from Tamil director Atlee. The pan-India film, which also featured Nayanthara and Vijay Sethupathi, turned out to be an even bigger hit, grossing Rs 1,150 crore globally to become the biggest hit of SRK's career.
2. "Animal": It was one of the most memorable years of Ranbir's career with the actor delivering the third biggest but also the most divisive film of 2023 in "Animal", directed by Sandeep Reddy Vanga of "Kabir Singh" fame. The film drew criticism for its graphic content, extreme violence, and treatment of female characters but since its release on December 1, it has earned over Rs 880 crores in worldwide gross.
3. "Gadar 2": A sequel to 2000 hit "Gadar: Ek Prem Katha", the Anil Sharma-directed film reintroduced Sunny Deol to mass audiences. The movie, which released in August, turned out to be a surprise hit of the year with over Rs 680 crore in worldwide collection, according to trade websites.
Sunny, 66, reprised his role of Tara Singh in "Gadar 2", set years after the events of the first movie.
4. "Tiger 3": Salman Khan returned as super spy Avinash Singh Rathore aka Tiger in the third part of his eponymous movie franchise. Directed by Maneesh Sharma, the film was released in November. Despite coming in theatres around the time of Cricket World Cup, the movie grossed over Rs 460 crore in worldwide collection. It also starred Katrina Kaif and Emraan Hashmi.
5. "Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani": Karan Johar's seventh full-fledged feature not only became one of the highest grossing films of the filmmaker's career, but is also his most talked-about and progressive movie till date. Released in July, the movie grossed over Rs 355 crore.
"Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani" featured Ranveer Singh and Alia Bhatt with great supporting acts by the likes of cinema veterans Dharmendra, Jaya Bachchan and Shabana Azmi as well as actors Tota Roy Chowdhury, Churni Ganguly and Aamir Bashir.
Misses
1. "The Vaccine War": After the controversial-yet-highly-successful "The Kashmir Files", Vivek Agnihotri released "The Vaccine War" in theatres in September. The movie revolved around Indian scientists and their quests to develop an affordable vaccine for India and the world. It earned Rs 14 crore at the box office, according to trade websites.
2. "Tejas": Kangana Ranaut had another forgettable year as "Tejas", which featured her as an Indian Air Force pilot, turned out to be a colossal disappointment at the box office. It was released in theatres in October and managed to earn around Rs 8 crore, trade websites reported.
3. "Bholaa": Trade pundits were betting big on Ajay Devgn's "Bholaa", the Hindi remake of Tamil hit "Kaithi", but the audiences gave the film a cold shoulder. The film, which released in cinemas in March, earned over Rs 120 crore, just enough to cover its making cost. It was directed by Devgn and also starred Tabu.
4. "Kisi Ka Bhai Kisi Ki Jaan": Before "Tiger 3", Salman had another big release in "Kisi Ka Bhai Kisi Ki Jaan", which made its debut in theatres in April, coinciding with the festival of Eid. Despite being headlined by a Bollywood superstar, the film underperformed at the box office, earning around Rs 180 crore.
The movie, which was a remake of Tamil superstar Ajith's hit movie "Veeram", also starred Pooja Hegde and Venkatesh Daggubati.
5. "Adipurush": The Om Raut-directorial, headlined by "Baahubali" star Prabhas, was one of the most anticipated titles but was plagued by many controversies. It was released amid much fanfare in June, registering a bombastic score of over Rs 300 crores in the opening weekend.
But poor reviews, coupled with a huge row over its poor dialogues and VFX, took a toll on the movie as it recorded a huge dip in numbers and footfalls in theatres. The film, also starring Saif Ali Khan and Kriti Sanon, eventually grossed around Rs 390 crores, according to trade websites.