Pathaan has finished the fourth highest grosser ever in Mumbai circuit with a huge number of 137 crore nett. Despite this big number it is an under performance and much of the issues at the box office facing the film industry today is Mumbai circuit. It is the biggest contributor for Hindi films but practically every film is underperforming in the circuit. 

The circuit should be doing 50% more than Delhi / UP on average but post pandemic so many films have seen a very limited gap between Mumbai and Delhi / UP and some are even same. It is similar for Pathaan with Mumbai only 22% more than Delhi / UP. Bahubali - The Conclusion did 182 crore nett in the circuit driven by a bonkers Gujarat and maybe that is hard to reach as Pathaan has a more urban look compared to the rural Bahubali look but still Pathaan should have got over the 150 crore nett mark. 

If we look at the top ten in Mumbai below it actually makes it looks like there no are issues as four of these films have come post the pandemic (KGF2, Pathaan, RRR and Drishyam2) and Sooryavanshi also had 85 crore nett and The Kerala Story is likely to cross 85 crore nett. But the problem lies that week in week out the collections are not what they should be in the circuit and when one third of the market is not on side its hard to put up numbers. 

The industry was finding it difficult to cater to Maharashtra and Gujarat before the pandmeic but what you had then were these films which were catering to the multiplexes of NCR but getting collections in Mumbai, Pune, Ahmedabad and Baroda as well which ensured Mumbai circuit was good also. The biggest contributor was Mumbai city but now this city just does not collect like before for films as maybe a larger chunk of the audience here has turned to home viewing. 

The circuit is the key to reviving the fortunes of the film industry and some films have shown numbers are still possible and it can even outperform with the correct film. It will need a shift from these attempts of cool films to more raw content as this will allow bigger numbers in Maharashtra and Gujarat which is needed as now you cannot depend on Mumbai city and Pune to pull the circuit through anymore. 

A film like Pushpa 2 will have the potential to go past the 200 crore nett mark in the circuit as that can score over Bahubali - The Conclusion in both Maharashtra and Gujarat though Mumbai city collections will probably be less. Some of the films from South have this raw rural content which stands a good chance in Maharashtra and Gujarat giving it an edge over the more urban Hindi content. This is also probably why Bahubali - The Conclusion and KGF2 stand top of the pile. The top ten films in Mumbai circuit are as follows.

1. Bahubali 2 (Hindi) - 1,82.56,00,000

2. KGF Chapter 2 (Hindi) - 1,45,45,00,000

3. Tanhaji - The Unsung Warrior - 1,43,85,00,000

4. Pathaan - 1,37,25,00,000

5. Dangal - 1,04,26,00,000

6. PK - 1.04,21,00,000

7. Tiger Zinda Hai - 1,03,40,00,000

8. Sanju - 1,01,86,00,000

9. RRR - 93,44,00,000

10, Drishyam 2 - 93,23,00,000