Just when things had started to look up for the Hindi film industry, the COVID-19 cases went up again, and Delhi shut its theatres.
Seventy-three movies released in 2021, of which 32 were theatrical releases.
These 32 films (including the dubbed versions of Pushpa, and excluding Hollywood films like Spider-Man: No Way Home) generated Rs 550 crore (Rs 5.5 billion) at the box office.
The only theatre releases that truly made an impression at the Hindi box office were Sooryavanshi and Pushpa.
While the former released on Diwali and came close to being a Rs 200 crore (Rs 2 billion) club entrant, the latter arrived in December and emerged victorious despite fighting it out with Spider-Man: No Way Home.
Allu Arjun would be quite happy with the kind of reception he received from the mass belts for Pushpa.
High costs coupled with major expectations from Kabir Khan's '83 deprived it of being a box office success.
The other films that managed to break even were the Salman Khan starrer Antim: The Final Truth, Tadap and Roohi.
Akshay Kumar had attempted to reopen theatres with Bell Bottom but with Maharashtra continuing to shut gates for theatres right till its release, the writing was clear on the wall. It still brought in some moolah from the rest of the states despite 50 percent occupancy and night restrictions.
Chandigarh Kare Aashiqui got good reviews and should have done well amongst the class audiences at premium multiplexes. Surprisingly, the box office was ordinary.
Mumbai Saga and Satyyameva Jayate 2 were John Abraham starrers aimed at the gentry and in another year, these would have worked.
Mumbai Saga arrived when the second wave had started, and there was no time to pull back.
Satyameva Jayate 2 was a single screen entertainer, but somehow audiences were just not in mood to step out and as a result, it turned out to be a poor show.
Bunty Aur Babli 2 was the kind of film that could well have released straight to OTT and fetched a good response.
Joginder Tuteja gives us the box office report of 2021.
Sooryavanshi
Box office collection: Rs 197 crore
'83
Box office collection: Rs 85 crore (and counting)
Pushpa
Box office collection: Rs 60 crore (and counting)
Antim: The Final Truth
Box office collection: Rs 39.06 crore
Bell Bottom
Box office collection: Rs 31 crore
Tadap
Box office collection: Rs 27 crore
Chandigarh Kare Aashiqui
Box office collection: Rs 27 crore
Roohi
Box office collection: R 26 crore
Mumbai Saga
Box office collection: Rs 16.53 crore
Satyameva Jayate 2
Box office collection: Rs 13.26 crore
Bunty Aur Babli 2
Box office collection: Rs 12.50 crore
