After A 35% Box Office Jump In 2023, Bollywood Stares At Challenges

The Hindi film industry is likely to have recorded a 30-35% increase in total box office collections in 2023, signalling much better times than the two years after covid when neither star vehicles nor mid-budget cinema was finding acceptance.

- LataJha lata

However, the new year is likely to bring a fresh set of challenges with only one big tentpole Hindi film, Hrithik Roshan, and Deepika Padukone-starrer Fighter scheduled for release, as far as the first quarter goes.

Top stars like Shah Rukh and Salman Khan will not see a film arriving in cinemas in 2024 but theatre owners and trade experts are pinning hopes on a slate of mid-scale films starring the likes of Shahid Kapoor, Ajay Devgn, Akshay Kumar, and Vicky Kaushal.

"The year 2023 showed a lot of hope especially compared to 2022, when the business had hit rock bottom. The potential of the Hindi box office was evident in the fact that not only was the 1500 crore milestone breached, but it happened four times through the year, so bench marks are significantly higher now," independent distributor and exhibitor Akshaye Rathi said.