The first two months of 2026 have been largely disappointing for Indian cinema at the box office. With many releases struggling to attract audiences to theatres, only Border 2 has managed to emerge as a commercial success.In a conversation with IANS, veteran film exhibitor Manoj Desai spoke about the performance of Hindi films so far this year.
“Border 2 was very good”
Praising the film directed by Sunny Deol, Desai said, “Border 2 was very good. Sunny Deol’s previous films were also very good. Both the brothers, Abhay Deol, Sunny Deol ji, his entire family, and his third brother, all their films were very good.”Border 2, which also stars Varun Dhawan, opened with huge numbers over the Republic Day weekend, collecting over Rs 30 crore on the first day.
The film maintained its momentum during its opening week and continued its steady run at the box office, making it one of the biggest Hindi hits of 2026 so far.
On Taapsee Pannu’Asi ‘
Talking about Assi, starring Taapsee Pannu, which failed to attract large numbers of viewers, Desai said that the film did not perform as expected but it was not a complete flop either.“Anyway, the film didn’t go well, but it wasn’t too bad. The audience comes, the audience goes, that’s all.
“The rest is nothing too tricky,” he said.
Does the audience reject content-based cinema?
When asked if viewers are turning away from content-driven films, Desai disagreed.“I don’t think so, because Mardani was there too. Again, the topic was aimed at women. Mardani 1, Mardani 2, they did a great job,” he said, noting that strong storytelling still finds an audience.
‘Audience is angry’ over ‘Dhurandar’
Talking about the audience favourites, Desai highlighted the violent action film Dhurandar.He pointed out that “Dhurandar” is the most violent film. Critics wonder: “How can there be so much violence?” “The audience went crazy. But the audience saw it all. People watched it over and over again.”
