A year’s releases aren’t a sample size big enough to suss out the state of a film industry or the status of filmmaking in the country. Yet, 2023 made it abundantly clear that big-bucks Bollywood is resilient — and resurgent, no matter the severity of the blow.
Post pandemic, 2022 belonged to directors from the South, with Telugu blockbuster RRR and Kannada hit KGF: Chapter 2 netting the biggest profits. Gangubai Kathiawadi made the year’s big Bollywood imprint.
In 2023, the action genre has had a rebirth like never before. And a lot of it has something to do with films from the South making a real crossover to the rest of this movie-fanatic nation. Starting before the pandemic, and during it, a slew of South Indian films started dropping on major streaming platforms. In 2022, after cinema halls opened and KGF: Chapter 2, written and directed by Prashanth Neel, released in theatres worldwide, audiences embraced the genre of the CGI-driven action spectacle wholeheartedly. The film went on to make ₹1,200 crore worldwide at the box office.
