Bollywood Movies 2025 So Far: From Small-Budget Hits to Big-Budget Flops – Check Our List

Bollywood Movies 2025 Hit So Far: Chhaava

‘Chhaava’ is the absolute champion of 2025, and honestly, it's not even close. Vicky Kaushal's historical epic about Chhatrapati Sambhaji has earned a mind-blowing ₹827.06 crores worldwide, making it the biggest Indian historical film ever made.

The movie cost around ₹130 crores to make and earned over six times that amount. Director Laxman Utekar found the perfect recipe: a beloved historical hero, fantastic acting, and exactly the kind of story that gets people emotionally charged up.

The film dominated theatres for weeks, with Sacnilk reporting collections of ₹228.69 crore on just its eighth day.

Bollywood Movies 2025 Big Budget Flops

Sky Force

Akshay Kumar's ‘Sky Force’ looked promising on paper, with aerial action, patriotic themes. The film made ₹94.50 crores in its first nine days, which sounds decent until you realise it needed much more to break even. Despite all the flag-waving and heroic speeches, audiences just weren't buying what this movie was selling.

Jaat

‘Jaat’ reminded everyone why Sunny Deol is still the king of action movies. The film earned ₹85.65 crores in its first 19 days, which is pretty good but not blockbuster territory. Fans enjoyed watching Deol take down villains with his trademark intensity, but the film felt too familiar, like just another Sunny Deol action drama.

Sikandar

AR Murugadoss's ‘Sikandar’ was supposed to be Salman Khan's big comeback, but instead became the year's most embarrassing failure. The movie was so bad that even die-hard Salman fans walked out of the theatres. When your most loyal audience gives up on you, that's when you know you're in serious trouble.

Deva

‘Deva’ wasted Shahid Kapoor's talent on a cop story that felt stale from the opening scene. The original Malayalam film was brilliant, but this remake drained all its energy, leaving it flat and uninspired, like an air conditioner that just won't cool in the peak of summer.

Emergency

Kangana Ranaut's ‘Emergency’ should have been a powerful story about one of India's most important leaders, but instead turned Indira Gandhi into a caricature.

Bollywood Movies 2025 Small Budget Hits

While expensive movies were flopping left and right, smaller films quietly found their audience. ‘Bhool Chuk Maaf’ starring Rajkummar Rao became a surprise hit by keeping things simple and entertaining. The Maddock Films team, who gave us the massive success of ‘Stree 2’ last year, proved they understand what families want to watch.

Though not at all a small-budget movie, ‘Housefull 5’ is doing well enough to probably turn a profit, which is more than most comedies can say these days.

Streaming Platforms Killing Bollywood’s Theatre Culture

Here’s the uncomfortable truth: streaming platforms are quietly killing the theatrical movie experience in India. Even well-made films have struggled to bring audiences to the cinemas.

Take ‘Superboys of Malegaon’, for instance. This quirky, heartfelt story from talented indie filmmakers received critical praise, but barely any footfall in theatres. Audiences waited for its Prime Video release, where it finally found traction.

And it’s not like streaming originals are always worth the hype either. ‘Netflix’, once the promised land for premium Indian content, is churning out titles that leave viewers disappointed. ‘Nadaaniyan’, starring star kids Ibrahim Ali Khan and Khushi Kapoor, was widely panned, prompting many to wonder why Netflix greenlit it at all. ‘Jewel Thief’, despite having Saif Ali Khan and Jaideep Ahlawat, came and went without making a mark.

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Aamir Khan’s Sitaare Zameen Par Challenges Streaming-First Model

In this age of digital-first releases, Aamir Khan’s latest project, ‘Sitaare Zameen Par’, is a risky outlier, and perhaps the most important film of 2025 so far.

Released in theatres in May 2025, ‘Sitaare Zameen Par’ remains unavailable on any streaming platform, even as of June 30, 2025. Khan has taken a clear stance: "If you want to watch this film, you must experience it in a cinema."

It’s a bold experiment, and not just artistically. Aamir is challenging the very distribution model that has become Bollywood's new normal. No OTT tie-in, no early digital premiere. Just good old-fashioned moviegoing.

This move has sparked debates in the film industry. Is Aamir's strategy visionary, or just outdated stubbornness? Maybe it’s both. But his belief is clear: if the content is strong, audiences will make the effort to watch it, even if that means leaving the comfort of their homes.

Initial box office reports through June have been promising. The film opened to packed shows in several metros and continued to draw audiences into its second and third weeks.

Why People Aren't Going to Theatres

Let's be honest, why would anyone spend ₹300-500 on a movie ticket when they can wait a few weeks and watch it at home for free? Especially when most big movies turn out to be disappointing anyway.

The pandemic changed how people think about entertainment. Families are more careful with their money now, and they're not willing to waste it on movies that feel like expensive advertisements.

The solution isn't rocket science: make better movies with reasonable budgets, focus on stories instead of star power, and stop treating streaming platforms like easy money. Regional cinema figured this out years ago; it's time Bollywood caught up.

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