The return of the Bollywood potboiler
₹500 crore in domestic box office collections within nine months and make for the top three highest grossers of all time in the Hindi language. Until 2023, the highest Hindi language grosser was Aamir Khan’s Dangal, which had made ₹387.38 crore when released in 2016.
Incidentally, the worldwide gross record for an Indian film is still held by Dangal, which made over ₹1,900 crore thanks to its release in China. The viewers who walk out of the early morning Tiger 3 show seem satiated.
Most point out the action entertainer is part of the spy universe of Yash Raj Films (YRF) and have watched previous instalments such as Pathaan, Tiger Zinda Hai and War. While a few have come for Salman, many were already aware Shah Rukh makes a cameo (a fact YRF has barely publicised), picking up on the trend they’ve seen in Hollywood superhero franchises where characters cross over from one film to another.
After years of minting money from the country’s top tier metros and plush multiplexes, the realization that there is a huge untapped movie market in India’s smaller towns, seems to have dawned on the Hindi film industry, which dominates the pop culture in India. On the one hand, multiplex chains such as PVR Inox are making a conscious effort to expand into smaller Hindi-speaking territories such as Patna and Rourkela, strategizing pricing with the paying propensity of consumers.
On the other, stars such as Shah Rukh Khan and Sunny Deol, who haven’t had the best time at the box office in recent years, have managed to resurrect the business, along with their own careers, thanks to a bunch of mass-market films packaged with elements catering to universal audiences. Incidentally, Pathaan was SRK’s first film in four years, and fans will be
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