The first half of 2022 wasn’t great for Bollywood, however, going by the numbers, it wasn’t as bad as one painted it to be on the social media. The audiences returned to the cinema hall for Bollywood, Hollywood and even the South Indian films, ending the debate of OTT overtaking the theatre viewing experience. The Hindi Film Industry in specific had 18 major releases in the first 6 months of 2022, of which, The Kashmir Files proved to be the biggest money-spinner of the year.
According to Pinkvilla, the Anupam Kher & Mithun Chakraborty starrer clocked 3 million dollars in its lifetime run, posing a challenge for rest of the Hindi films through the year to come. It’s an All Time Blockbuster, given the economics of the film.
The second biggest hit of the year is the Anees Bazmee directed Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2. Starring Kartik Aaryan with Kiara Advani and Tabu, the film collected 2.27 million dollars, and is a proven hit. It’s the first blockbuster for Kartik Aaryan, and till date the biggest film for the actor. This is followed by the Alia Bhatt helmed Gangubai directed by Sanjay Leela Bhansali. The movie collected 1.57 million dollars crore in its lifetime run and can be called a super hit.
JugJugg Jeeyo starring Varun Dhawan and Kiara Advani with Anil Kapoor and Neetu Kapoor will end its run with collections of 990,000 thousand dollars. The film is neither a hit nor a flop. As the business for the film of this genre is good enough to be termed a success, it can be said that the film did modestly well.
Barring these, there were 14 other releases, which tanked at the box office, though there are some like Runway 34, which got genuine appreciation from the audience who watched the film. The list of flops and disasters is long with the likes of Badhaai Do, Jhund, Tulsidas Junior, Bachchan Paandey, Attack, Jersey, Heropanti 2, Runway 34, Jayeshbhai Jordaar, Dhakkad, Anek, Samrat Prithviraj, Nikkama and Janhit Mein Jaari, according to Pinkvilla.
The 18 releases collected an total sum of 11.49 million dollars. This works out to an average of 637,053 dollars per film.
The Kashmir Files controversy
The Kashmir Files is based on the exodus of Kashmiri Pandits during the nineties. The film has provided fodder for fake and misleading news. Directed by Vivek Ranjan Agnihotri and featuring Anupam Kher, Mithun Chakraborty and Pallavi Joshi among others, the movie has been made tax-free in several States. Due to this film, the debate on militancy in the state of Jammu and Kashmir has been rekindled.
“We have tried to show that when militancy enters a community and is given ideological support from a part of the society, it leads to disaster,” director Agnihotri had said on March 21, 2022, adding that his movie was based “entirely on facts”.
The movie has done exceedingly well despite the controversy surrounding it and has thus proved to be the biggest Hindi blockbuster of the year.
