Box office collections: Which Hindi movies made the most money in the first half of 2022

The five films that accounted for roughly 80 percent of the money Hindi films made at the box office in the first half of 2022 are (clockwise from top left) KGF: Chapter 2 (Hindi), RRR (Hindi), The Kashmir Files, Gangubai Kathiawadi, and Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2. (Collage by Joginder Tuteja)

Five films contributed over Rs 1,275 crore in ticket sales in the first six months of 2022. At an average of Rs 255 crore per film, this figure might suggest to an outsider that all is perfectly well in the world of Hindi films.

To put this in perspective, consider that there have been 20 major releases so far this year, starting with Badhaai Do (February 11, 2022). Total ticket sales across these 20 amount to just a little over Rs 1,600 crore. Which means the other 15 films contributed merely Rs 325 crore. That's Rs 21-22 crore per film. A terrible state of affairs by all means.

It has been a 'kabhi khushi kabhie gham' scenario when it comes to audiences stepping out to watch Hindi films. They have welcomed south dubbed films with open arms, with KGF - Chapter 2 (Hindi) (Rs 434.7 crore) and RRR (Hindi) (Rs 274.31 crore) doing extraordinary business. They have even embraced a very niche and offbeat non-Bollywood kind of a film in the form of The Kashmir Files (Rs 253 crore).

As for the lovers of 'masala' entertainment, there is horror comedy Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2 (Rs185 crore) which is still playing in theatres and can in fact be called the only quintessential Bollywood film in this elite list of Top-5. The film is in fact the only true family entertainer that went on to do blockbuster business at the box office. The kind of collections that came managed to revive theatrical business in a big way as so many films were flopping left, right and centre prior to that. Kartik Aaryan delivered yet another big success with this one after a consistent run with films like Sonu Ke Titu Ki Sweety, Luka Chuppi and Pati Patni aur Woh behind him.

Ditto for Alia Bhatt who reaffirmed her position as a solo female superstar by delivering a very good success with Gangubai Kathiawadi (Rs 129.10 crore). It needs to be acknowledged for being the door opener for Bollywood buffs by being the first film to actually do well in 2022. The lockdown had impacted theatrical business in a big way post the release of Sooryavanshi and there was drought at the box office. When theatrical business resumed, there were huge doubts over whether audiences would be truly interested in getting back to theatres. However Sanjay Leela Bhansali made that happen and the film scored a good century.

However, the situation wasn't as rosy for other big budget Bollywood films. Akshay Kumar starrer Bachchan Pandey (Rs 50 crore) could well have covered some distance, but then was caught in The Kashmir Files whirlpool. As for Samrat Prithviraj (Rs 70 crore), it didn't really see much favour from the audiences and struggled to get a start. That said, both these films still managed a double digit opening, something that no other films managed apart from the ones which ended up doing blockbuster business.

There was a lot riding on Runway 34 and Heropanti 2, but unfortunately they couldn't even get a start. The Ajay Devgn starrer did manage to stay for a few weeks in theatres (Rs 33 crore) and is now doing comparatively better on OTT. Tiger Shroff has seen steady success over the years with his action films but the same didn't turn out to be the case with Heropanti 2 (Rs 26 crore). Jersey (Rs 17.25 crore), starring Shahid Kapoor, had to postpone its release so many times that when it eventually arrived, people didn't know. Well, now they know that it's on Netflix.

A couple of other movies were also well made but then audiences just didn't go for them. Attack - Part 1 was a dream that John Abraham carried for long and he also gave it his all, but then theatrically it had to close at Rs 16.13 crore.

With lifetime earnings under Rs 16 crore (Rs 15.50 crore), Jayeshbhai Jordaar became the least commercially successful film of actor Ranveer Singh's career so far - his debut film Band Baaja Baaraat (Rs 31 crore) had made more.

As for the other set of releases, they were way too niche to have found an audience all over, though Badhaai Do (Rs 20.62 crore) and Jhund (Rs 15.16 crore) built up some momentum at least. Otherwise, films like Anek (Rs 8 crore), Janhit Mein Jaari (Rs 4 crore), Dhaakad (Rs 3 crore) and Nikamma (Rs 2 crore) struggled to even complete a week at the box office, which turned out to be a surprising trend in 2022 when shows were cancelled at a regular frequency.

Thankfully, things could close on a relative high, as JugJugg Jeeyo is coming across as a film which would comfortably find itself at the No. 6 in the list of films. It has crossed Rs 59 crore at the time you read this, and will go likely past the Rs 75 crore mark by the end of it run. Post that it would be all about going further up and though it won't quite hit a century, in today's time even a Rs 75 crore grosser is akin to a 100 Crore Club from the pre-pandemic times.

Top5 grossers in January-June 2022

KGF - Chapter 2 [Hindi] - Rs 434.70 crore

RRR [Hindi] - Rs 274.31 crore

The Kashmir Files - Rs 253 crore

Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2 - Rs 185 crore

Gangubai Kathiawadi - Rs 129.10 crore