3 ON 30! Bollywood in the red in Q1 2026

Hindi cinema is languishing. And the only red currently visible is not the blush on the face of the actors; it is also the red in Hindi cinema’s balance sheets

Prominent flops in the first quarter of 2026

1. Ikkis n Rahu Ketu n Happy Patel: Khatarnak  Jasoos 
2. Vadh 2 n Tu Ya Main 
3. O’Romeo n Assi 
4. Do Deewane Sheher Main

Hits are Border 2 and Mardaani 3

The All-Time Blockbuster (ATBB) is Dhurandhar 2, still running, having collected close to 993 crores.

Box office collections (India nett) are:

1. Ikkis: 28.38
2. Rahu-Ketu: 5.64
3. Happy Patel: 5.52
4. Vadh 2: 3.61
5. Tu Ya Main: 6.57
6. O’Romeo: 59.90
7. Assi: 10.14
8. Border 2: 341.70
9. Mardaani 3: 53.06

Except for Aditya Dhar’s Dhurandhar 2, top-lined by Ranveer Singh, just two other films — Anurag Singh’s Border 2 with Sunny Deol and Abhiraj Minawala’s Mardaani 3 with Rani Mukerji — have brought home returns. We will come back to that in a moment…

Bollywood has been putting up a poor show for a while now. Trade magazines and portals unanimously call this the film industry’s darkest, driest, most vacant phase. The crisis is a result of poor scripts, faulty execution, and exorbitant star prices.

Literally drawing inspiration from the adage that “the show must go on”, the film industry has been trudging along, sweeping their losses below the carpet, and talking over exaggerated collections of their many flops masquerading as “hits” through paid campaigns. But the first quarter of 2026 is a sorry situation.

“Alarm bells have been ringing for a long time,” says producer, distributor-exhibitor N. R. Pachisia. “The poor show of Bollywood before Dhurandhar 2 released on March 19 has put the Hindi film industry into an unenviable space.”

Dhurandhar 2 has largely been the saviour. We had 30 releases, out of which just Border 2 and Mardaani 3 assured an ROI (return on investment).