Year Ender Special 2022 : How 'The Kashmir Files' Destroyed The Myth of Stardom & Holidays To Emerge The Real Hero —

Vivek Agnihotri's low-budget historical drama The Kashmir Files has emerged as the highest grossing Bollywood movie of the year at the domestic box office. Bollywood had more than 120 releases in 2022, with almost 25 films coming with big budgets and big stars, and out of all of them, this 25-crore-budget film had to be the top grosser. The trade experts and fans always believe that stardom is the most important thing to make big money at the box office. In the last few years, we have seen content winning the race, while some believe that South has suddenly overtaken it despite mediocre or decent content. Well, The Kashmir Files came out and shattered all those myths at the box office.While many big producers and directors preferred an OTT release in 2021, Vivek Agnihotri stood for a theatrical release for The Kashmir Files. He waited for many months to get a theatrical window and was even ready to clash with many biggies. He had announced a Republic Day 2022 release for The Kashmir Files, despite knowing that YRF's biggie, Samrat Prithviraj, was coming on January 21st. However, the third wave of COVID pushed the releases ahead, and both films had to shift their release dates. Vivek then decided to release the film on 11th March 2022, up against Prabhas' big-budget pan-India film, Radhe Shyam. Akshay Kumar and Kriti Sanon's Bachchhan Paandey had already been booked for the next Friday, 18th March 2022 (Holi festival), giving The Kashmir Files a very narrow release. Yet Agnihotri and the team did not move, and the results we all know. In its first week, The Kashmir Files smashed Radhe Shyam in the Hindi markets, and in the second week, it destroyed Bachchhan Paandey. A small budget film defeated two biggies at the box office—when was the last time you saw something like this?I still remember how Vivek Agnihotri tried to convince us journalists by showing a full-fledged documentary on his research at the press conference. It wasn't any five-star hotel or big PVR cinema; he had a press conference at a small private theatre. He told us that no big production house from Bollywood was ready to invest money in his product and how he had to bring Abhishek Agarwal Arts from the South to complete his dream. He did it, and I'm sure they must have been lying in the bedsheet made by notes now.After having several public screenings in the USA and India, The Kashmir Files finally managed to grab only 700 screens on the first day. It opened to good occupancy across the nation and collected 3.25 crore nett on 11th March. What happened after 12th March cannot be described in words. It was a hysteria that we hadn't witnessed in many years, and that too from a small film. TKF showed a huge jump on day 2 (8.25 crore) and day 3 (15 crore) to certify its nationwide acclaim. The second week numbers were even bigger and better. It became the headline all over the nation. The shows were filling fast, the number of screens was increased, and many sponsored shows from political leaders were hosted—all of this hadn't been witnessed by any other low budget film in recent times. From 3.25 crore nett opening to 247 crore lifetime biz, The Kashmir Files saw one of the best opening day x lifetime ratios in the history of Bollywood.

The Kashmir Files ended up being not only the highest-grossing Bollywood film of the year but also the most profitable Bollywood film of 2022 and the most watched film too. The box office figures for the film are almost 10 times its budget. It did exceptionally well at the overseas box office too, with a total of $5.7 million (INR 42 crore gross). The worldwide gross was over 310 crore. We have had almost 20 films with a budget of over 80 crore, and 10 of them had a budget of over 100 crore; some of them had a large scale, a huge cast, big stars, big directors, big producers, big holidays, and what not, but none of them could beat this one small 25 crore-budget film that released in fewer screens on a non-holiday. The myths of stardom, larger-than-life images, paid promotions, nationwide marketing, and big-scale filmmaking were broken by a cyclone called THE KASHMIR FILES.It came, it stormed, and it conquered. Yes, we are in 2022, and a small film with no buzz, no big stars, no big budget, and no big director can come and rule the box office—The Kashmir Files made it possible. The comparison with the legendary blockbuster Jai Santoshi Maa (1975) would be unfair, but let's just be happy that we witnessed a lite version of it with The Kashmir Files. Read my review of The Kashmir Files HERE.