The Hindi film box office started with a bang with Sooryavanshi on Diwali but post that things have not been so good but not bad either. Its just that the industry had higher expectations for openings post the release of Sooryavanshi which were always unlikely to materialise .

Sooryavanshi was a good film and a film that people wanted to watch and post Sooryavanshi we have seen what we would call more regular films which at the present time they may find it harder to bring in the audience as the market has been open only for a month after a huge 18 month break.

But now in the next 4-5 weeks the films are looking better so these will probably tell us where we stand at the box office post the pandemic. There are 5 major releases over the next five weeks and in business terms the most important could be Chandigarh Kare Aashiqui as this is also a regular film but it does look better than the releases of November and its so important for one of these types to go and do a good number so the industry knows that business is out there for a film that today is more of an OTT type of film.

The Hindi film industry does have problem today of portraying men as men and women as women so look for gay, lesbian characters even in the leads which is ridiculous and this may not be along those lines but there is playing around with the gender here and the normal audience just cant relate with this but hopefully the film has enough humour to overcome this and succeed at the box office. A big film like Sooryavanshi has succeeded and if one like Chandigarh Kare Aashiqui can succeed it will give the industry a huge boost.

Then there is Spiderman - No Way Home and although its a Hollywood film and does not really matter to the industry how the film does its a huge film and the exhibition sector especially multiplexes will be hoping for a huge run and it should get that with huge help from the South circuits. The film is very important for the North American box office which has not really got going since opening six months back and now with the Xmas period its a must that it does big business there.

On Christmas will be the biggest film of the Hindi film industry of this period which is 83. The film had a good trailer but the trade in Mumbai has gone crazy with 300 and 400 crore expectations which at the end of the day is likely to lead to disappointment and with a trailer you can only have day one expectations and then the rest is down to the public whether they give you one hundred crore or one thousand crore. At present its best to keep expectations in check and realistic as bige numebrs like before the pandemic will be harder to come by. 83 will face opening issues in places like Gujarat, UP, MP, Rajasthan etc considering how big the film is in terms of budget but it has Christmas week and if the content appeals it can do very well but maybe not as high as the trade is expecting.

The New Year will see the first release of Shahid Kapoor post the huge success of Kabir Singh. This film looks a strong human drama and will have a good chance to score especially with the family crowd but it remains to be seen where is the box office standing of Shahid Kapoor post Kabir Singh and has Kabir Singh pushed the initial. No doubt the film will grow as its in that zone of a social emotional drama. The film is sandwiched between biggies 83 and RRR but if the film gets appreciattion that will not matter much and it can do good numbers. 

The in January will be the white horse RRR which does look the best film of this period from what glimpses have been seen but it is South dubbed film with no cast. It will be said that Ajay Devgn and Alia Bhatt is there but like Antim - The Final Truth the public knows that they are not the leads in the film. It can also be said that Bahubali - The Conclusion opened huge without a cast but that film was carrying the brand of Bahubali - The Beginning. Then Saaho opened very well which was about the Bahubali hero and here it will be about the Bahubali director and does that audience come for that. 2.0 had a more Hollywood look to it and Akshay Kumar while Saaho also had a Hollywood look to while this film is likely to be more rustic look and possibly even Telugu feel and without brand value this makes it harder in North India and even East India though Maharashtra and Central India can still open very well as that rustic and Telugu (if)  feel is less of a hindrance in these areas.

The bottom line is that all these films are better than the ones we had post Sooryavanshi in November and December so the business must come. The circuits across India are in pretty healthy condition so the pandemic is not really an excuse for low business. Yes it may not be to the pre pandemic level but good content will do the business as proved by Sooryavanshi and that was the first film back and now things should be a little better for the good films.