Bollywood’s Box Office Reversal: Male-Driven Action Dominates After a Year of Female-Led Success
The Indian film industry experienced a significant shift in 2025, with violent, male-driven action thrillers reclaiming dominance at the box office after a year that saw women-led stories gain international acclaim.
The year 2025 marked a return to familiar ground for Bollywood, a stark contrast to 2024 when films directed by women – including Payal Kapadia’s All We Imagine As Light, shuchi Talati’s Girls Will Be Girls, adn Kiran Rao’s Laapataa Ladies – garnered global attention and praise.”What 2024 established was that Indian women filmmakers are not marginal voices, but leading global ones,” a film critic noted, calling it “a moment of truth” rather than a fleeting trend.
Though,the momentum stalled in 2025. The top 10 box-office hits were largely defined by larger-than-life, hypermasculine heroes, with Jio Studios and Ranveer Singh’s Dhurandhar – an espionage thriller set against the backdrop of India-Pakistan tensions – emerging as the defining hit of the year. Packed with graphic violence and gangland politics,the film became a cultural touchstone,solidifying a trend of aggressive,male-centric narratives.
The shift was notably noticeable considering the Hindi film industry’s ongoing struggle to regain its footing after the pandemic. While five of the top 10 hits originated from Bollywood, the dominance of hypermasculine themes was undeniable, exemplified by films like the past epic Chhaava and the action spectacle War 2. The only film on the list led by a woman, Lokah, a Malayalam-language superhero film, stood out as an outlier.
This trend extended beyond action thrillers. The blockbuster romance saiyaara centered on a troubled male rockstar “rescuing” his partner struggling with Alzheimer’s disease, while mythical spectacles like Kantara: Chapter 1 (Kannada) and Mahavatar Narsimha (dubbed into multiple languages) reinforced customary male heroism.The year’s most discussed films consistently showcased men performing acts of pain,power,and vengeance.
Toxic Masculinity and Commercial Success
T Series Films’ Tere Ishk Mein, starring Dhanush, proved to be one of the year’s most debated hits, earning over 1,550m rupees ($17.26m, £12.77m) worldwide despite criticism for romanticizing toxic masculinity. The film features an “angry, volatile male protagonist” and a high-achieving woman whose ambitions are diminished by her relationship with him.
A Response to Accountability?
A screenwriter noted a “period of performative, exaggerated misogyny” in contemporary films, suggesting it might potentially be a response to the accountability demanded by women during the MeToo movement of 2017-19. While the movement exposed widespread abuse within the industry, structural power imbalances largely remain, and many accused individuals have returned to work. “As long as these [hypermasculine] films make money, they aren’t going anywhere,” she stated.
Despite the prevailing trend, signs of hope emerge from smaller, regional film industries and independent filmmakers. A new generation is creating “riveting, viable cinema” rather than relying on “mass entertainers.” Films like Sabar bonda, Songs of Forgotten Trees, The Girlfriend (Telugu), Bad Girl (Tamil), and Feminichi Fathima (Malayalam) are exploring complex social and political themes and telling sensitive stories through a female lens. On the streaming side, The Great Shamsuddin Family has been praised for its portrayal of modern Muslim women.
“It’s a quieter movement, working from the margins,” a film industry observer concluded.”And it isn’t going to disappear.”
