A tiny film with Rs 20 crore budget with no big star beat heavyweights like Gadar 2, Pathaan, and OMG 2 in Ormax Media’s list of most liked Hindi theatrical films of 2023.
Industry tracker Ormax Media came out with its new list of ‘most liked Hindi theatrical films of 2023’. This includes some of the most popular and well-performing Bollywood films released in theatres this year. And the top five has sprung up a surprise with a sleeper hit, made on a Rs 20-crore budget, managing to upstage huge hits of Shah Rukh Khan, Akshay Kumar, and Sunny Deol.
Ormax’s list of most-liked Hindi films of 2023
On Thursday evening, Ormax shared its top 5 most liked Hindi theatrical films of 2023. The list was quite predictably topped by Shah Rukh Khan-starrer Jawan, the highest-grossing Indian film of the year, and one of the highest-grossing Indian films ever with a worldwide gross of over Rs 1100 crore. However, the second spot belonged to Sudipto Sen’s controversial sleeper hit The Kerala Story. Made on a small budget of Rs 20 crore, the film faced calls of ban and boycott due to its politically charged content and battled several court cases prior to release. Despite this, the film managed to earn Rs 304 crore worldwide, a huge achievement for the film whose biggest star was Adah Sharma.
The Kerala Story managed to beat Shah Rukh’s other hit of the year – Pathaan – which had to be content with the fourth spot in the list. Sunny Deol’s comeback hit Gadar 2, which broke box office records during its Rs 650-crore run, was ahead of it in the third spot. Rounding off the list at number five was Akshay Kumar’s OMG 2, the actor’s first clean hit in nearly three years. The film, a sequel to his 2011 hit, has grossed over Rs 220 crore since its release in August.
The Kerala Story’s miraculous box office run
Produced by Vipul Shah and directed by Sudipto Sen, The Kerala Story dealt with women from Kerala who are coerced by ISIS extremists and imprisoned in Afghanistan. The film courted controversy when it claimed that 3000 women have met this fate from the state. After a court case, the makers were forced to remove that claim from the film and the teaser but were granted relief in terms of release. The controversy did generate buzz for the film, leading to a strong growth at the box office via word of mouth.
