The year gone by was a disaster for the Hindi film industry and that is with highest grossing film ever from the Hindi film industry Stree 2 and if we take this film out it would have been pretty much a total disaster. The struggle looks set to continue and this is not just 2025 but it may well be beyond that also as the industry finds it difficult to cater to this huge audience profile change in recent years where its become a story of the circuits defining box office rather than the metros.

Actually it was always about the circuits as that is where the Hindi speaking population is and obviously Hindi films have to cater to them but in terms of box office you could survive and even prosper on the strength of the biggest centers and this started somewhere in the mid 2000s and lasted till the pandemic. Today the issue is such that even smaller films need to score outside metros and this is proving a huge challenge for the film industry as the last twenty years has seen an influx of talent which has metro sensebilities and this does not change overnight and may never change.

An easy way to put this is the audience profile has gone similar to the the pre globalization days of the late 90's and the industry is full of the Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge and Kuch Kuch Hota Hai crowd in terms of commercial cinema (this is the cinema that the younger talent would have grown up with) and then there is the european lot which thank god is pretty much reduntant today so this leaves a huge vaccum as the sensebilities dont match with that core Hindi audiences.

Basically the way it looks at the moment its either a total overhaul with new blood or audience profile changing again to go more with the present sensibilities in the film industry and neither is going to happen fast so you trudge along until something gives. There are huge films in 2025 and beyond with huge budgets and usual hype which just goes as far as social media and not at the ground level in accordance to their size and that is why it will be target Stree 2 and not Pushpa 2 despite the mega budgets. The sort of cinema being created in Mumbai no matter the budget cant get Pushpa 2 numbers in Hindi circuits until ticket price growth catches up, South Indian circuits can compensate for these films somewhat but it can never cover the shortfall from Hindi circuits. 

The stardom factor also becomes an obstacle as all the big films are star driven and stardom has always been on a downnhill curve since the 90's and only maybe Sunny Deol in the 90's and Salman Khan in the post 2010 period managed to deliver on stardom alone without the package (banner, heroine, director etc)  but that is all totally out the window today. You never say never as anything can happen in time but at the moment its all about the film no matter which star is driving it so huge variances in opening numbers will happen due to the appeal of the product. Real stardom is lost today and that is what leads to box office feeding as it becomes about star insecurity.

It could be that in 2025 the biggest film in Hindi may again not be star driven as Kantara 2 looks the likely candidate depending on content. It has good chances due to its rural and rustic appeal which has potential for huge numbers in core Hindi circuits. Again its a film from the South but there is no upper hand with South films as Kantara 2 is one release and fifty others will bite the dust with practically no collections as seen in 2024. The South is not much of as a threat as not many films made for South audiences will not work with Hindi audiences but a few here and there could travel but generally they are a no no. There is a difference in sensibilities here also. 

The best way to start putting the house in order is probably make films aiming for that 75-150 crore nett mark driven by music and commercial elements as due to the limited talent in terms of film makers the blockbusters are going to be hard to come by. The story and characterization hold too much importance in Hindi circuits and the would be blockbusters on the floors are depending on stars, scale and budgets. 

The turnaround will have to come if the industry is get over this slump and survive and its going to have to come from the mid level films where one or two a month getting in the 75-150 crore nett range will get production moving again. This is also within the capabilities of the talent that there is in the industry and its just about being realistic. Its a long road ahead in 2025 and after and all you can do is hope that the industry is able to cater to the public demands at some level and things dont get worse than 2024 at the very least.