Of late, Bollywood Hungama has reported on the box-office performance of Bollywood, Hollywood, Tamil, Telugu, and Kannada cinema in 2023. In this article, we shall discuss the box-office figures of Punjabi, Marathi and Bengali films in the domestic market.
Punjabi films had a historic 2019 as collections went up to Rs. 249 crores, the highest ever. In 2020, the figure was a mere Rs. 19 crores while it was Rs. 91 crores in 2021. 2022 was a bit disappointing as the total collections were Rs. 147 crores.
2023 figures were the second best of all time as it jumped to Rs. 235 crores. It is lesser than the 2019 numbers but the signs of improvement are there. The footfalls also grew from 1.50 crores in 2022 to 2.3 crores in 2023, which is almost at par with 2017 levels (2.3 crores). The biggest hit of the year, Carry On Jatta 3, was also the biggest Punjabi hit ever, collecting Rs. 54 crores gross. This was followed by Mastaney (Rs. 33 crores) and Kali Jotta (Rs. 21 crores).
The Marathi box-office performance, meanwhile, was underwhelming. It went on a record high of Rs. 268 crores in 2022. But the figure reduced to Rs. 201 crores in 2023. Footfalls are also down from 2.60 crores in 2022 to 2 crores in 2023.
2023 saw Marathi cinema delivering Baipan Bhari Deva, which exceeded all expectations. Backed by Jio Studios, this woman-centric film collected Rs. 92 crores gross in cinemas. It is also the second-biggest Marathi grosser of all time. Sadly, this was the only major blockbuster of the year. The second biggest grosser, Subhedar, collected Rs. 18 cores. Jhimma 2 collected as much as the first part - Rs. 14 crores. It suffered from mixed word of mouth and if the reports were encouraging, it had the potential to cross the Rs. 20 crores mark. What's unfortunate is that a film like Vaalvi got all-round acclaim and yet, it didn't even cross the Rs. 10 crores mark.
The Bengali industry similarly saw a drop in collections - from Rs. 77 crores in 2022 to Rs. 66 crores in 2023. While the footfalls were 70 lakhs in 2022, it was 60 lakhs a year later. Chengiz, the Eid release which was also the first Bengali film to release in Hindi, was the biggest hit of 2023 followed by Raktabeej and Dawshom Awbotaar.
