First quarter 2025 box office: ‘Chhaava’ roars while Salman Khan’s ‘Sikandar’ is expected to end the quarter with a bang! | Hindi Movie News

The first quarter of 2025 is about to come to an end. Of course, one can’t really sum it up yet with Salman Khan’s ‘Sikandar’ ending the quarter on March 30. However, the collections from the movie are more likely to spill into the month of April which will come in the next quarter. Here’s looking at the movies which have done well in the first three months of the year. Of course, it’s not hard to guess that ‘Chhaava‘ starring Vicky Kaushal has ruled and how! Here we have trade experts dwelling into this quarter. Read on…

Chhaava breaks records!

The Vicky Kaushal starrer has broken several records at the box office. The film has not only turned out to be the biggest hit of Vicky but it broke the record of ‘Pushpa 2’ in Maharashtra. The movie has crossed Rs 570 crore at the box office and is now set slowly inch towards the Rs 660 crore mark. With this, the movie has finally broken the record of ‘Gadar 2’ and Ranbir Kapoor starrer ‘Animal’. Of course, ‘Chhaava’ is the only highlight of the first quarter of the year. Trade expert Taran Adarsh says, “Chhava has brought back a lot of joy and happiness to the industry. It did well not just in Maharashtra or certain pockets, it did well all over the world. It’s a global hit and I think that’s a big, big reason to celebrate. Because I think, you know, it was a regional hit in one particular territory or one particular city. So, I think this is one thing that has defied all and proven all calculations and all estimations wrong by a big margin.”

Summing up the quarter

There were also a lot of re-releases in this quarter but not many newer movies getting people to the theatres. Producer and trade analyst Girish Johar says, “I think it’s not been that great in the sense because we had Chhava but there were other films also which did kind of decent to average business. Emergencies, Fateh, Deva and these releases also did have some mark at the box office and yes, definitely Chhava outshone and apart from that to some level again there was Sky Force also which was being released. So, by and large, it has been nothing exciting because more was expected from all the big releases. So, o the sentiment as of now is a little on the lower side.”

Akshay Kumar and Veer Pahariya’s ‘Skyforce’ was another film which did decently well in this quarter. The movie made Rs 112 crore at the domestic box office as its lifetime collection according to Sacnilk.
Shahid Kapoor, Pooja Hegde starrer ‘Deva’ has collected Rs 33.9 crore which was an below average business for the film despite immense appreciation.
Sonu Sood starrer ‘Fateh’ had a business of Rs 13.3 crore.
Meanwhile, Kangana Ranaut’s ‘Emergency’ made Rs 18.3 crore in India as its lifetime business. The film is getting a lot more appreciation as it recently released on OTT.
A film which created a huge stir in this quarter was ‘Badass Ravi Kumar’ and it also got a good reception of the box office but it was not released in many screens and just as the word of mouth began to spread, the film was also removed from most theatres early due to other releases. It ended up making around Rs 8.38 crore.
John Abraham starrer ‘Diplomat’ which released last week has now made Rs 19.15 crore within a span of 7 days which is a pretty decent number and the film saw growth due to positive word of mouth. So, it’s needless to say that Vicky Kaushal’s ‘Chhaava’ was the only big film in this quarter which outshined everyone else.
Amidst the films which didn’t do as per expectations include ‘I Want To Talk’. Arjun Kapoor, Bhumi Pednekar, Rakul Preet Singh starrer ‘Mere Husband Ki Biwi’ was also below average. Khushi Kapoor and Junaid Khan starrer ‘Loveyapa’ was also dull as it ended up making Rs 6.85 crore.

The need for more releases

There were very few releases in the first three months and one expected more movies to come. Adarsh says, “I think we need to have more releases.Because otherwise, how will the theater function? How will the industry survive? And I think those are the questions. So I hope that we live up to those expectations of the audience.”
Johar added, “There have been few weeks which were gone. There were no major releases. Definitely, I think the quarter stands out and Chhaava takes the lead and it is one of a benchmark film coming from a specific belt which was supposed to do well. Luckily, the film has done well all across. It’s a very healthy sign.”

All eyes on Sikandar

The first quarter of 2025 will not be complete till we talk about the first release of the year, ‘Sikandar’. Salman Khan film releasing on Eid is always expected to be a blockbuster. Johar says that one never know how the film may pick up, despite the fact that at the moment, the response to the teaser and songs is slightly on the dull side. He said, “I’m sure Salman Khan would love to throng the theatres and it should start good. The traction of it is presently a little low. The trailer also hasn’t been released yet. But you never know, any Friday or one film which changes the sentiment within the industry, we’ve seen that umpteen times. The audiences like the film, then there is no stopping. And Chhaava is a recent example, despite so many competition ups and down, it has performed exceedingly well. So, I really hope that Sikandar also does well.”
Taran Adarsh concludes, “It was a slow first quarter. But hopefully, things will improve with the arrival of Sikandar. Salman Khan teams up with AR Murugadas of Ghajini and Holiday fame. It’s a very big combination. With Sajid Majidwala, as a producer. So it can’t get bigger than that. Most importantly, Salman is synonymous with Eid.”