The Hindi film industry has experienced a slowdown at the box office during the initial two months of 2026. While most Hindi movies failed to attract a significant audience to theaters, ‘Border 2’ has stood out as a commercial success.
Film exhibitor Manoj Desai shared insights with regard to the performance of Hindi films in the early months of 2026. Desai praised ‘Border 2’ and highlighted the success of Sunny Deol’s previous works, including those of his family members.
Desai also commented on the film ‘Assi’ featuring Taapsee Pannu, noting its inability to draw crowds to cinemas. Despite this, he acknowledged that the movie’s performance was not extremely poor, emphasizing the transient nature of audience preferences.
When questioned about the reception of content-driven films, Desai expressed optimism, citing the success of movies like ‘Mardani’ that catered to a female audience. He pointed out the positive reception of ‘Mardani 1’ and ‘Mardani 2’ as evidence of the audience’s appreciation for such narratives.
Discussing audience favorites, Desai highlighted ‘Dhurandar’ as a highly popular film known for its intense violence. Despite criticism from some quarters, the movie garnered significant viewership and even attracted repeat watchers.
The movie ‘Border 2’, featuring Sunny Deol and Varun Dhawan, has emerged as one of the top-grossing Hindi films of 2026, drawing strong initial numbers and benefiting from the Republic Day weekend release. The film opened to over INR 30 crore on its first day and has maintained a steady performance since then.
