Mumbai, January 1 - The year 2023 started with the hope of continuing the winning streak of 2022 but it ended like a dream for the Indian film industry. After the COVID scare for almost 2 years, Indian cinema found its footing in 2022. Still, it had little idea what it would deliver in the following year which has now become the best year in Indian cinema history.
2023 was the year when Indian cinema delivered more than it promised with back-to-back blockbusters and at the same time, it also marked the comeback of some of its before 21st-century era superstars who used to rule the box office and the hearts of audiences with their sheer dominance.
The Year of Comebacks -
Shah Rukh Khan - One of the biggest headlines of 2023 was the comeback of King Khan who turned king of action to regain his lost throne by delivering three major blockbusters in the year. There were chatters across social media platforms and within the industry that the time of SRK was gone but he not only proved everyone wrong but also became the first Indian actor to score two 1000+ crores grossers ever in the same year. Shah Rukh Khan proved that he is here to stay and rule for many more years.
Sunny Deol - Sunny used to be the face of patriotic films in the late 90s and early 20s, but somewhere, this image of him started fading away after 2005 and it seemed like the audiences had moved on from his films. When everything seemed gone, the actor pinned his last hope on the sequel to his iconic blockbuster and it turned the tide for him. Sunny Deol was once again in the news and social media chatters for becoming one of the few stars to deliver an all-time blockbuster in the form of "Gadar 2: The Katha Continues". He is now in hot demand and is already a part of some of the most-anticipated upcoming films that are going to delight audiences.
Rajinikanth - 2023 also proved to be a memorable ever for superstar Rajinikanth after a couple of below performances. The superstar joined hands with director Nelson Dilipkumar to script his epic comeback with the action drama Jailer and became the first Tamil actor to score two 500+ crores grossers. The film also scored a big hit for director Nelson after the underperformance of Beast starring Thalapathy Vijay.
The Year of Blockbusters -
In 2022, the Indian film industry found its lost mojo and had a few big successes in the form of RRR, KGF 2, Vikram, Kantara, and The Kashmir Files, among others, but things went a notch higher in 2023 in which Indian cinema delivered blockbuster after blockbusters across languages which was the highlight of the year. It all began with superstar Shah Rukh Khan's Pathaan in January as it became the first film of the actor to gross 1000+ crores at the worldwide box office.
SRK carried the mega-blockbuster success of Pathaan to another monstrous blockbuster in the form of Jawan in September. It was an even bigger hit and made SRK the only Indian actor with two films in a 1000 crores club, that too in a single year. In between King Khan's roaring comeback, Sunny Deol's Gadar 2 hit the ball out of the park and grossed close to 700 crores worldwide. The trade believes that Gadar 2 was the biggest box office break out of 2023.
As 2023 was approaching its end, it witnessed one of the rare Indian talents, Ranbir Kapoor making his entry into the elite league of Bollywood superstars with an adult-rated film like Animal which is nearing 900 crores worldwide. It not only emerged as Ranbir's biggest blockbuster but also one of the biggest of all time in the history of Indian cinema, and to think that it was A-rated, this performance of the film looks nothing short of unimaginable.
It was not only big stars who were delivering at the box office, filmmaker Vipul Shah's Tha Kerala Story was one of the films with the highest returns. Despite facing backlash from a section of society, the movie made the most of its unusual subject to gross over 300 crores worldwide against a budget of just around 15 crores.
Tamil cinema too had major success in 2023 with a few blockbuster successes. The trade had expected Thalapathy Vijay's Leo and superstar Rajini's Jailer to emerge as blockbusters, but there were a few low to mid-budget films that stunned everyone with their performances. Actor Vishal and SJ Suryah's Mark Antony was one of the biggest success stories of Tamil cinema in 2023, along with Dada.
Tollywood cinema didn't have major success in 2023 but a couple of films gave high returns to the producers. The romantic drama Baby was the biggest success story of Telugu cinema in 2023, along with Balagam which emerged as a big blockbuster. Towards the end of the year, Prabhas-fronted Salaar finished as the highest-grossing Telugu movie of 2023.
The Malayalam cinema finally had its industry hit after many years as Tovino Thomas-led survival drama, "2018" emerged as the all-time highest-grossing Malayalam film. Megastar Mammootty too delivered a big blockbuster in the form of Kannur Squad. The other big blockbusters which lighted up the Mollywood box office included Romancham and RDX, and the year concluded with superstar Mohanlal making a comeback with blockbuster Neru.
The Regional cinema too joined the blockbuster spree as the Marathi film Baipan Bhari Deva emerged as an all-time blockbuster, along with the Punjabi comedy Carry on Jatta 3 and the historical drama, Mastaney, and Kali Jotta. Gujarati cinema also had a big blockbuster in the form of 3 EKKA.
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