Four of the top five biggest hits of Indian cinema so far are from the South Indian film industry. The trend very much aligns with the changing dynamics of the domestic box office market. While the popularity of south Indian films is continuing to grow outside their usual markets, Hindi films seem to be still trying to solve the problem of winning back the unconditional patronage of the traditional fan base. The commercial milestones that seem easily achievable for South Indian language films, look herculean for Bollywood.
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For example, Dhanush’s previous Thiruchitrambalam, which was a medium-budget, feel-good movie, managed to sell over Rs 100 crore worth of tickets worldwide. On the other hand, Vikram Vedha, starring two of the biggest stars of Bollywood, Hrithik Roshan and Saif Ali Khan, is apparently still huffing and puffing to reach the coveted Rs 100 crore mark at the box office. This is despite the fact that the film received rave reviews from critics.
Even the small-budget Kannada movie Kantara managed to earn Rs 100 crore globally within 17 days of its release.
Filmmaker Mani Ratnam’s latest epic Ponniyin Selvan: 1 has now emerged as the third biggest hit of 2022 overtaking the collections of Brahmastra – Part One. The latest reports claim that the gross collection of PS:1 now stands at over Rs 450 crore. It has managed to achieve these eye-popping numbers within three weeks of its release. Mind it, this film achieved such commercial success despite Mani Ratnam steering clear of all the cinematic elements that make a crowd-pleasing blockbuster.
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PS:1 breached the Rs 400 crore mark worldwide within 12 days of its release, while Brahmastra took about 25 days to collect Rs 425 crore against the said budget of over Rs 400 crore. The film’s director Ayan Mukerji declared Brahmastra as “#NO. 1 WORLDWIDE HINDI MOVIE OF 2022!” but the jury is still out on the commercial success of the film. Considering the high cost involved in creating the first part of the trilogy, many are cautious to call the film a genuine hit.
#PonniyinSelvan WW Box Office
CROSSES ₹450 cr gross mark.
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Week 1 – ₹ 308.59 cr
Week 2 – ₹ 107.35 cr
Week 3
Day 1 – ₹ 6.76 cr
Day 2 – ₹ 12.80 cr
Day 3 – ₹ 15.68 cr
Total – ₹ 451.18 cr#PonniyinSelvan1— Manobala Vijayabalan (@ManobalaV) October 17, 2022
PS: 1 also broke other barriers in the domestic market by collecting over Rs 200 crore in Tamil Nadu alone. And yet the film is still showing no signs of slowing down. Even though two big movies, Prince and Sardar, are set to release this week, most of the theatres will retain PS:1 to cash in on the Deepavali holiday. Judging from the film’s momentum, PS: 1 may soon breach the Rs 500 crore mark. It’s noteworthy that Mani Ratnam shot both parts of this two-part epic in one stretch, saving a ton of money for the film’s producers. And it looks like the film has recouped all the investments of its producers in the first part itself.
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Kamal Haasan’s Vikram global collection is said to be over Rs 440 crore, which is also bigger than Brahmastra. The other two biggest Indian hits of this year are RRR and KGF: Chapter 2. Both films have collected over Rs 1000 crore each from their worldwide ticket sales.
