Box Office 2021: Tollywood Dethrone Bollywood To Emerge The Indian Box Office King

Hyderabad, January 4 - The Telugu cinema, for the first time in many many years, had had a bigger impact on the Indian box office than the mighty Bollywood, which has ruled the Indian biz over the years. The lack of Bollywood content helped the second largest film industry of India, Tollywood to keep the show running in 2021.

In 2021, there were a total of 471 (+) films released in theaters in India. The theatrical releases in 2021 generated approx Rs. 3200 crores gross in India, approx +60% than 2020. Marvel/Sony's superhero film "Spider-Man: No Way Home" emerged as the biggest grosser of 2021 in India with Rs. 240 crores, followed by Akshay Kumar's "Sooryavanshi" with Rs. 230.8 crores.



However, it was the Telugu film industry, which dominated the Indian box office biz. In 2021, a total of 175 (+) Telugu titles were released in theaters and generated Rs. 1070 crores gross, including the Telugu versions of other films, in India. Allu Arjun's "Pushpa - The Rise" led the Telugu biz with a gross collection of Rs. 150 crores in 2021 in India. Pawan Kalyan's "Vakeel Saab" was the second biggest Telugu title with Rs. 127 crores.

It was not all doom and gloom for the Hindi cinema. The largest film industry in the country, Bollywood found some life towards the end of 2021, when "Sooryavanshi" was released along with Hindi dubbed titles of "Pusha - The Rise", and "Spider-Man: No Way Home". "Sooryavanshi" emerged as the biggest Bollywood hit since Ajay Devgn's "Tanjaji" in January 2020. The Rohit Shetty-directed grossed Rs. 230.8 crores in India, and was the biggest Indian title of 2021 at the worldwide box office with Rs. 293 crores.

Last year, a total of 55 films (+) were released in Hindi, including dubbed versions, and grossed approx Rs. 760 crores in India, making the Hindi version the second largest after Telugu to contribute to the Indian box office. Tamil, which saw a mega-hit in the form of Thalapathy Vijay's "Master", was the third biggest in terms of box office contributor in Indian in 2021.



The Tamil version saw as many as 93 titles (+), which generated approx Rs. 700 crore gross in 2021 in India. "Master" along with Rajinikanth's "Annaatthe" were the two Tamil films that grossed over Rs. 100 crores in India alone. Sivakarthikeyan's "Doctor" was the third biggest Tamil title of 2021. It grossed Rs. 100.50 crores worldwide, including Rs. 80.50 crores at the Indian box office (both Tamil and Telugu versions).

The Kannada film industry too had something to show in its CV in 2021. There were 77 films (+) released in the Kannada language and grossed Rs. 244 crores in India. Darshan's "Roberrt" was the biggest Kannada title with a gross total of Rs. 69.50 crores. The Malayalam film industry has had a dismal show in 2021, in which most of the Malayalam films took direct-to-digital routes via various OTT platforms. Only 41 (+) Malalayam titles were released in 2021, which could contribute only approx Rs. 170 crores.

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