Today, we are going to discuss the most popular Bollywood movies released in 2023. Not necessarily, these films were all hits or best or had a great marketing budget. But social media, certain dialogues, and other reasons were there to increase their popularity. These films are ranked based on their popularity and social media presence along with the budget.
1. Animal
Directed by Sandeep Reddy, the director of ‘Kabir Khan’, ‘Animal’ stars Ranbir Kapoor in the leading role with Rashmika Mandanna, Triptti Dimri, Anil Kapoor, and Bobby Deol. This famous film has been quite a controversial movie glorifying violence, extramarital affairs and women abuse in the name of love for a father. Bhushan Kumar and Krishan Kumar produced the film. Made with a budget of one hundred crores, the film earned more than nine hundred crores at the box office. Sandeep has been known for his ideology of violence in love, making ‘Animal’ an extremely popular Bollywood movie of 2023, yet hated by the audience as well.
2. Jawan
This production of Red Chillies Entertainment ruled the hearts of people in the year 2023. The film gained popularity because of the unique plot involving Bollywood and South Indian industry superstars. The film’s budget was only three hundred crores while it earned approximately 1,150 crores at the box office. Directed by Atlee Kumar, this movie has action, drama, thrill, and really good music.
3. Pathaan
Being the first Hindi film to cross the one thousand crore mark worldwide, ‘Pathaan’ is one of the major turning points in the career of SRK after many flop movies. The tension between India and Pakistan’s agents has been shown remarkably in the film. Deepika Padukone and Shah Rukh Khan have a sizzling chemistry in the film as always. The budget set for the movie was 240 crores while the box office business went great becoming SRK’s second-highest-grossing film of all time after Jawan.
4. Gadar 2
We are still not getting over the innocent love story of Tara Singh and Sakina and there came the sequel of ‘Gadar’ in 2023 after 22 years where a new generation can explore the intense story. The film is directed by Anil Sharma and produced by Zee Studios. Opposite Sunny Deol is Amisha Patel, and their young kid is now a grown boy. The film was made with a 60-crore budget and did a business of 690 crores.
See: Top 10 Most Popular Vicky Kaushal Films
5. 12th Fail
Starring Vikrant Massey as Manoj Kumar, this Vidhu Vinod Chopra-directed film ended up receiving great recognition amongst the netizens. The film is considered a hit even with low budget and less marketing as compared to other commercial movies (also mentioned in this list). But the power of social media can never be underestimated, and it got the spotlight as deserved. The film is a biographical film about Manoj Kumar, the IPS officer.
6. Adipurush
Unfortunately, the film is the box office bomb in the year 2023. The quality of the VFX was quite poor and certain dialogues & visuals harmed the audience’s sentiments resulting in great disappointment. Although Prabhas, Kriti Sanon, and Saif Ali Khan did a wonderful job, the Om Raut-directed film did not make it to the box office but still got fame. It is a production by Bhushan Kumar and Krishan Kumar. It earned 354 crores only after being made with a budget of approximately 700 crores.
7. Tu Jhooti Main Makkaar
From the maker of ‘Pyaar ka Punchnama’, Luv Ranjan, another movie came out starring Ranbir Kapoor and Shraddha Kapoor under the production of Luv Films. The carefree Mickey falling in love with a career-oriented Tinni is an adventure to watch. The iconic Kapoor duo, the beautiful locations, cameo appearances, and groovy songs made this film the talk of the town. Budge was 180 crores while the box office earnings were approximately 220 crores.
8. Dunki
As the year 2023 ended, SRK produced another hit under the direction of Rajkumar Hirani and the production of Gauri Khan. The film’s unique topic caught the attention of the people and SRK’s performance is worth watching. The film stars Boman Irani, Taapsee Pannu and Vicky Kaushal. SRK is no doubt the Bollywood powerhouse and his role as Hardy will make you fall in love with him when he does everything for his friends to send them to the UK, be it illegal or risky. Box office business has decent earnings of 470 crores while the budget was 120 crores.
Also See: Top 10 Most Popular Prabhas Movies
9. Tiger 3
Starring Katrina Kaif, Salman Khan, and Emraan Hashmi as the leading characters, this film is the third part of the ‘Tiger’ series and the fifth part of the YRF Spy Universe that began upon the release of ‘Ek Tha Tiger’ in 2012. Directed by Maneesh Sharma, this movie is about the intense realities of ISI and RAW, the intelligence agencies of Pakistan and India, respectively. The film’s budget was three hundred crores while it did a box office business of 466 crores.
10. The Kerala Story
The film was quite controversial as it shows how Hindu and Christian girls from Kerala are forcefully converted into Muslims, killing their life ambitions and goals. Due to the political involvements and promotion by the politicians, the movie was surrounded by several news and got immense fame. Directed by Sudipto Sen and produced by Sunshine Pictures, this movie earned approximately 300 crores despite being made with a small budget of 15-20 crores.
