Indian Box Office Reaches $1.48B in 2025; ‘Dhurandhar’ Takes the Year-End Top Spot
India’s box office achieved an unprecedented milestone in 2025, totaling $1.48 billion (Rs133.95 billion), surpassing the previous record of $1.35 billion (Rs122.26 billion) set in 2023, as reported by Ormax Media.
Last year marked an exceptional period for Hindi cinema, with the sector generating $609.78 million (Rs55 million). Notably, about 93% of this revenue came from original Hindi films, reflecting a significant decline in reliance on dubbed South Indian movies, which dropped from 31% in 2024 to just 7% in 2025.
Jio Studios’ Hindi-film Dhurandhar, featuring Ranveer Singh, emerged as the highest-grossing film of 2025, raking in $105.25 million (Rs9.5 billion). This achievement set a new record for the highest-grossing Hindi-language film of all time, surpassing Stree 2, which earned $77.33 million (Rs6.98 billion) in 2024.
In a remarkable industry trend, 37 films surpassed the $110 million (Rs10 billion) threshold in 2025, a significant increase from the 22 films that reached this mark in 2024. The Kannada-language prequel, Kantara A Legend: Chapter 1, secured the second position on the year-end chart with earnings of $80 million, followed closely by the Hindi film Chhaava, which grossed $77 million. Additionally, three films—Dhurandhar, Kantara A Legend: Chapter 1, and Chhaava—each crossed the Rs5 billion mark, while Saiyaara, Coolie, and the animated feature Mahavatar Narsimha each earned over Rs3 billion.
International films enjoyed a resurgence, with box office earnings climbing 49%, marking their best year since the pandemic and the second-highest since 2019. Disney’s Avatar: Fire And Ash stood out as the top international title, ranking eighth on the year-end chart with $26.48 million (Rs2.39 billion).
The cumulative share of the four South Indian-language film industries decreased from 48% in 2024 to 44% in 2025, with Kannada-language films notably showing substantial growth among the four.
However, total admissions saw a decline of 6%, amounting to 832 million in 2025 compared to the previous year. This trend highlights an ongoing reliance on increasing average ticket prices, which rose by 20%, from Rs134 to Rs161.
