‘Dhurandhar:The Revenge’, ‘Border 2’ and then ‘Main Vaapas Aaunga’. From one end of border politics angst to the other, the first six months of 2026 have shown that audiences are drawn to spectacle and high-octane nationalism but also to quieter storytelling.

According to a PTI report from Mumbai yesterday, more than two dozen films released in theatres in the first half of the year. But three stood out — ‘Dhurandhar: The Revenge’, the second instalment in Aditya Dhar’s espionage saga, grossed over Rs. 1,800 crore worldwide, ‘Border 2’ came up second with Rs. 450 crore and then there was ‘Bhooth Bangla’, which earned Rs. 270 crore.

Apart from them, only the Shahid Kapoor-led ‘O’Romeo’ and ‘Cocktail 2′ crossed the Rs. 100 crore milestone.

In June came Imtiaz Ali’s partition saga ‘Main Vaapas Aaunga’, so different in tonality from ‘Dhurandhar: The Revenge’, which lived up to the massive expectations generated by the first film in December 2025, and ‘Border 2’, a sequel to the 1997 hit ‘Border’.

Pakistan is the leitmotif in all films but the stories and the treatment differ widely.

“We’ve got three legitimate super hits: ‘Dhurandhar 2’, ‘Border 2’, and ‘Bhooth Bangla’… The numbers we see are Rs. 3,000 crore but these numbers have come from three to four films and it could have been six to eight films. So, we’ve fewer successful films but we’ve satisfactory box-office numbers,” trade analyst Girish Wankhede told PTI.

He said the period was “satisfactory but not extraordinary” with the silver lining being that successful films did bigger business.

Several highly anticipated titles, including Sriram Raghavan’s ‘Ikkis’, Varun Dhawan’s ‘Hai Jawani Toh Ishq Hona Hai’, Ayushmann Khurrana’s ‘Pati Patni Aur Woh Do’, and Karan Johar’s production ‘Chand Mera Dil’, underperformed, according to Wankhede.

“These highly anticipated films were expected to perform well, but they didn’t,” he said.

Kamal Gianchandani, Chief Business Planning & Strategy, PVR INOX Limited, added that films, big and small, with a “big heart” garnered love from people.

He gave the example of ‘Main Vaapas Aaunga’, which opened to positive reviews on June 12 but had a slow start at the box office.

However, strong word of mouth helped it gather momentum in its second week, prompting exhibitors and distributors to increase the number of shows across the country.

“Content is the king and the response to ‘Main Vaapas Aaunga’ is an example of that… If it is just scale and no content, then maybe people will come for the first weekend but the excitement will reduce after that,” Gianchandani told PTI.

“If the film has content and scale, that’s the ultimate thing. A movie like ‘Dhurandhar’ opened big and it kept getting bigger. But even if the content is there and the scale is small, even then people turn up in theatres because people want to be entertained, they want to cut off from their day-to-day life,” he said.

According to Gianchandani, the first six months of 2026 saw a 10 to 12% rise in admissions and a 16 to 17 percent increase in overall box office collection compared to the same period last year.

Bihar-based exhibitor and distributor Vishek Chauhan said the overall trend indicates strong audience intent, provided the content resonates with them.

“The first six months have been pretty decent… So the good thing is that audiences are coming out in huge numbers, people are clearly giving us signals that they want to watch movies in theatres. If you give them the content, they are in the mood to enjoy right now,” Chauhan told PTI.

He also noted that the theatrical momentum was impacted by the temporary slowdown during the IPL season and election period. The conflict in West Asia also led to postponement of many films, he added.

“We had a slightly dull period between April and May because of the IPL and the elections which were being held across the country. Also, filmmakers cancelled the release of films like ‘Toxic’ and Salman Khan’s ‘Maatrubhumi’, which disrupted the calendar for the whole release schedule,” Chauhan noted.

South Indian movies reflected a similar pattern of a few big successes amid a high volume of underperformers, with nearly 70 percent of releases failing to make an impact, according to Chennai-based trade analyst Ramesh Bala.

Telugu movies such as Chiranjeevi’s ‘Mana Shankara Vara Prasad Garu’ and Ram Charan’s ‘Peddi’ both amassed over Rs. 300 crore at the box office. In Tamil cinema, ‘Karuppu’ starring Suriya garnered over Rs. 300 crore.

In Malayalam, the coming-of-age comedy ‘Vaazha 2’ and Mohanlal’s ‘Drishyam 3’ did business of over Rs. 240 crore, he said.

“Also, ‘Maa Inti Bangaaram’ in Telugu and ‘Blast’, a female action movie in Tamil, have done well,” Bala told PTI.

Ruban Mathivanan, Managing Director at GK Cinemas in Chennai, said it was a “mixed” period for theatre owners in the South with quite a few big-ticket releases failing to lure audiences in large numbers.

“Pongal releases like Sivakarthikeyan’s ‘Parasakthi’ and Karthi’s ‘Vaa Vaathiyaar’ performed. ‘Peddi’ underperformed. Rather than doing Pan-India subjects, they should do rooted films that become big hits. For instance, Ram Charan’s ‘Rangasthalam’ was a properly rooted Telugu commercial film and it was a blockbuster, Mathivanan told PTI.

Looking ahead, industry experts remain optimistic about the second half of 2026, with a strong release slate including YRF’s ‘Alpha’, Ajay Devgn’s ‘Dhamaal 4’, Salman Khan’s ‘Maatrubhumi’, Nitesh Tiwari-directed ‘Ramayana’, and Shah Rukh Khan’s ‘King’.

They are also betting big on Hollywood movies such as Christopher Nolan’s ‘The Odyssey’, Tom Holland-starrer ‘Spider-Man: Brand New Day’, and Marvel’s ‘Avengers: Doomsday’.

In 2025, the first half was dominated by the success of Vicky Kaushal-led historical drama ‘Chhava’, which earned over Rs. 600 crore. The overall collection during this period hovered around Rs. 1,900 crore during the same period last year.