Saralnama
In 2025, Bollywood has seen a significant number of major star-led films underperform at the box office, with titles such as Shahid Kapoor’s Deva, Kangana Ranaut’s Emergency, Akshay Kumar’s Sky Force and Housefull 5, Salman Khan’s Sikandar, Sunny Deol’s Jaat, Ajay Devgan’s Raid 2 and Son Of Sardar 2, Kajol’s Maa, Rajkummar Rao’s Maalik, and Hrithik Roshan’s War 2 failing to meet expectations. Some films were perceived as hits due to production houses’ corporate or bulk bookings, with allegations of routine fudging of collection figures. Industry insiders note that distributors have suffered losses despite producers celebrating successes. Newcomers, including star kids like Aamir Khan’s son Junaid Khan and Saif Ali Khan’s Ibrahim Ali Khan, also failed to make an impact despite strong production backing. Trade analyst Taran Adarsh highlighted the urgent need for Bollywood to focus on strong content, experiment beyond formulaic approaches, reinvent star images, manage budgets better, connect with pan-India audiences, invest in music, and support new talent to address the declining box office performance. (Updated 23 Aug 2025, 19:48 IST; source: link)