Blockbuster March for Bollywood, as over Rs 500 crore come in through the box office

Amitabh Bachchan as Vijay Barse, in 'Jhund', released in March 2022.

What a recovery for the film industry it has turned out to be. Down and out for almost two years with no big releases between Baaghi 3 (March 2020) and Sooryavanshi (November 2021), there was a lot to be concerned about.

No theatrical releases coupled with the OTT boom also made some wonder if the Covid pandemic had sounded the death-knell for Bollywood and the business of movie theatres.

These concerns seem to be in the film industry's rearview now, with over Rs 500 crore generated from Hindi movies in March 2022 alone. This is a record for single-month collections.

Hindi cinema's best ever month (box-office collections wise) before this was March 2019, when Rs 384.70 crore were generated, courtesy Kesari (Rs 154.41 crore), Luka Chuppi (Rs 95 crore) and Badla (Rs 87.99 crore) that brought in the best numbers amidst all new releases. Prior to that March 2018 was good too, with Rs 367.71 crore coming from box office ticket sales due to the success of Baaghi 2 (Rs 166 crore) and Raid (Rs 103.07 crore).

Five films were released in March 2022: The Kashmir Files, RRR, Bachchan Pandey, Radhe Shyam and Jhund. Together, they've brought in as much as Rs 455.83 crore in March. Add to that, February release Gangubai Kathiawadi,  which continued to bring in footfalls, made Rs 81.69 crore in March. Combine these collections, and the total comes to Rs 537.52 crore, a record.

The biggest contributor to this success story is The Kashmir Files which brought in Rs 238.28 crore in just three weeks. Add to that the Hindi version of RRR making waves and bringing Rs 132.59 crore in just one week. Together, earnings from these two films (Rs 370.87 crore) came close to beating the March 2019 record (Rs 384.70 crore). The other releases of the month couldn't do well but then ensured that around Rs 85 crore more came in. These are Bachchan Pandey (Rs 50.50 crore), Radhe Shyam (Rs 19.30 crore) and Jhund (Rs 15.16 crore).

Also read: 'RRR' collects Rs 611 crore gross worldwide: Film-makers

There are great expectations that this golden run will extend to April, too with the release of KGF - Chapter 2 and Jersey (remake of a Telugu hit). Eid releases Runway 34 and Heropanti 2 are also highly anticipated this month.

Simply put, theatres are back. And big-ticket films are releasing one after the other - these films had to be postponed for months due to COVID, and had it been business as usual, they would have been released weeks if not months apart. Having said that, after the bleakness of the last two years, it's reassuring to see big screen operators finding their big pot of gold.