Mumbai, Feb 24 (IANS) The Hindi cinema has majorly witnessed a lull at the box-office in the first 2 months of 2026. With most Hindi films not seeing a sizable chunk of audience at the theatres, only ‘Border 2’ has emerged as a winner in a commercial sense.

IANS spoke with film exhibitor Manoj Desai about the performance of Hindi films in the first 2 months of 2026.

He told IANS, “‘Border 2’ was very good. Sunny Deol’s previous films were also very good. Both brothers, Abhay Deol, Sunny Deol ji, and his entire family, his third brother, all their films were very good”.

He also spoke about the ‘Assi’ starring Taapsee Pannu, as it failed to pull the audience to the theatres. He said, “Anyhow, the movie did not go well, but it did not go so bad. The public comes, the public goes, that’s it. The rest is not a super duper thing”.

When asked if the audience is averse to content-driven films, he said, “I don’t think so, because Mardani was also there. Again, it was a ladies-oriented subject. Mardani 1, Mardani 2, they have done terrific”.

Talking about the most loved film by the audience, he said, “‘Dhurandar’, the most violent film. Critics ask, ‘How can there be so much violence? The public goes mad’. But still the audience saw everything. People have watched it on repeat”.

‘Border 2’ starring Sunny Deol and Varun Dhawan, has emerged as one of the biggest Hindi hits of 2026, riding strong opening numbers and Republic Day weekend buzz. It opened with over INR 30 cr on day one and surged through the opening week. The film has continued its steady run.

–IANS

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