The coronavirus-induced pandemic had brought everything to a halt and Bollywood was no different. Several releases were being postponed for almost the last two years. However, with the situation more under control now, showbusiness is slowly reviving and the last 35-odd days have proved it.
After almost two years, the audience is back in cinema halls, thanks to biggies released recently – Gangubai Kathiawadi, The Kashmir Files, and RRR among others. Alia Bhatt starrer Gangubai Kathiawadi, which was released on February 25, was the first film to generate good revenue after the pandemic. The film was widely loved and gained a positive response from both, the audience and critics. It earned Rs 10.5 crore on its opening day which reached Rs 37.5 crore over the weekend. Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s movie earned a total of Rs 122.76 crore worldwide as reported by Box Office India.
Gangubai Kathiawadi had already given what was much needed at the box office after a long time, a push. The next in line was Vivek Agnihotri’s The Kashmir Files which was released on March 11 along with Prabhas and Pooja Hegde’s Radhe Shyam. It is no secret that The Kashmir Files overruled Radhe Shyam and smashed box office like no other movie did after the pandemic.
The movie depicted the story of the exodus of the Kashmiri Pandits. Written and directed by Vivek Ranjan Agnihotri, it starred Anupam Kher, Mithun Chakraborty, Darshan Kumaar, and Pallavi Joshi among others. It earned Rs 3.36 crore on its opening day which further spiked to Rs 26.41 crore by Sunday. The Kashmir Files also took away all the limelight from Akshay Kumar’s Bachchhan Pandey which was released a week later i.e on March 18. The Kashmir Files compelled the audience to book tickets and visit theatres because of its emotional connect. The political controversies around it only helped its box office further. As of March 29, the film has earned Rs 234 crore worldwide.
Following The Kashmir Files, a much-awaited movie was released that not only gained 5/5 stars from critics but also smashed the box office – RRR. SS Rajamouli’s film starring Ram Charan and Jr NTR outperformed all the movies and earned a whopping Rs 223 crore on its opening day. It took just three days for the movie to cross the Rs 500 crore mark worldwide. As of March 30, even the Hindi version of the film has collected over Rs 100 crore. It will be interesting to see if RRR will be able to surpass SS Rajamouli’s 2017 movie Baahubali: The Conclusion which has a total collection of over Rs 1000 crore worldwide.
While Gangubai Kathiawadi, The Kashmir Files and RRR have already revived the box office, the release of several other big movies lined up this year will hopefully help recover the losses from the pandemic. From Yash’s KGF 2 to Kartik Aaryan’s Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2, Shahid Kapoor’s Jersey to Ranbir Kapoor’s Brahmastra, Aamir Khan’s Laal Singer Chadha to Vijay Deverakonda’s Liger – 2022 is surely going to be a year of Bollywood. Fingers crossed!
