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Forbes
Forbes
21 Oct 2023


Bollywood Gadar 2 Jawan Jailer

A look at how three films together created the highest-earning month at the Indian ticket windows.

ZeeStudios/Red Chillies Entertainment/Sun Pictures

Three films released over the span of roughly 20 days, accelerated the theatrical business for Bollywood to an unprecedented level in just two months. Shah Rukh Khan’s Jawan, Sunny Deol-starrer Gadar 2 and Rajinikanth’s Jailer were the films that have contributed majorly to the box office collection in India in 2023.

It has been more than three years since the pandemic-induced lockdown was first imposed in India, impacting most businesses. Theatrical cinema business was also majorly affected by the pandemic and industry experts believe that cinema-viewing patterms changed in the two years that forced people to seek entertainment on their TV sets and mobile devices. The third quarter of 2023 proved that theatrical business is not going to die anytime soon in India.

While Jawan continues to break new grounds and is still running in theatres, the film has scored more than $90 million in India alone. Released in mid August, Gadar 2 grossed $68.5 million at the Indian ticket windows in the month of August alone. By mid-October, Gadar 2 has grossed $75 million in home country. By the end of August, Rajinikanth’s movie had made nett collections of $38.5 million in India alone. Jailer has made $49 million gross collections within 50 days of the release. That makes for a combined collection of $215 million for the three films in the past three months.

According to the latest report from Indian company PVR INOX, the Indian cinema chain earned a revenue of $250 million in the (Indian) financial quarter ending 30 September, 2023. Calling it the highest The cinema chain credited movies such as Jawan, Gadar 2, and Jailer, for the unprecedented results. It also named Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani, Oh my God 2, Dream Girl 2, and Fukrey 3, apart from Hollywood superhits Oppenheimer and Barbie for the feat.

What was it about the films that turned August and September into the highest-earning months for the country?

While Gadar 2 revisits a hero who was popular in the early 2000s, Jawan and Jailer bring forth heroes modelled on the lines of Bollywood’s classic angry man. Is nostalgia, then, the real trigger? Producer and film business analyst Girish Johar agrees and adds, “Nostalgia factor for sure triggered the audience, but I believe post-pandemic everyone was concentrating on digital platforms. All the leftover films were there were landing on OTT and many filmmakers began focussing on the metroes audiences alone. The smaller towns were left out, and their audience felt ignored.”

He adds that it was a gap that “we as makers missed - the commercial films. We were only making urban-centric, sleek, stylish, and intelligent films. These films also had a Hollywood-style and could not really satiate the audience in the smaller towns. Perhaps, that was also a reason why south films were working well in Hindi belts. Our industry is missing our own style of entertainment, we missed out on quenching that thirst of our hardcore masses. I am confident that we will make those films soon and I am confident box office is back. The digital platforms can be a good window for premium products. It can also be a good second window for these films but primairly, these films do well at the box office. It also helps the digital platform.”

Rashmikant Bhalodia, owner of Galaxy Cinemas in India’s Gujarat adds that the holidays and festivals that were celebrated across India in the months of August and September also played a part. “August and September are full of holidays and of course films are appealing to the audience. If the film is liked by the audience at large then record break collection is bound to get at the box-office.”

PVR INOX registered the highest-ever monthly admissions of all time in August 2023, a press release from the movie chain said. Its theatres recorded a gross box office revenue of $63.8 million. PVR INOX registered a gross box office revenue of $4.9 million on August 14 (after Gadar 2 released)- it was the highest collection for the chain in a single day, a record that was set only days before that. On August 13, PVR INOX registered a gross box office revenue of $4.7 million.

COO at the Indian ticketing platform BookMyShow Ashish Saksena says action-packed, mass entertainers have been the mainstay in the Indian consumer’s palate. He adds, “The success of Jawan and Gadar 2 in particular, brought to the fore the issue of studios and producers’ lack of focus on audiences from small and non-metro towns when it came to distribution, unlike films from southern India. Jawan, Gadar 2 along with Pathaan earlier this year, have highlighted the importance of the true pan-India appeal.”

Saksena adds that 35 percent of the tickets booked for Gadar 2 (on the ticket booking platform) were for single-screen theatres. He adds that the sales of movie tickets doubled in the month of August, in comparison with last year. “September 2023 saw a 60% growth in movie ticket sales since last year on BookMyShow,” he concludes.