Does India Like Violent Films?

If the trailer is any indication, Ranbir Kapoor's Animal will be one of the most violent films of 2023.

The violence is not just physical but also emotional, as Ranbir's dysfunctional relationship with his onscreen father Anil Kapoor shows us.

Do we love violence in our films?

Joginder Tuteja looks at recent violent Bollywood films and how they did at the box office.

Baahubali - The Conclusion [Hindi]
Box office collection: Rs 511 crore/Rs 5.11 billion

Baahubali: The Conclusion, one of the biggest blockbusters, had a liberal dose of violence, as Prabhas' Baahubali fought to avenge his tortured mother against his cruel uncle, Rana Daggubati's Bhallaladeva.

The scene where Baahubali beheads a man still sends shock waves.

Bodies drop dead like nine pins as we get introduced to all kinds of weaponry when the climax takes place on a battlefield.

 

KGF - Chapter 2 [Hindi]
Box office collection: Rs 434.70 crore/Rs 4.35 billion

'Violence violence violence - I hate violence' is what Yash claims in KGF - Chapter 2.

Yet, his acts in the film are anything but non-violent, as he brings out hundreds of AK-47s to take on the menacing Sanjay Dutt.

One of the most violent films in India remains one of the biggest box office successes.

 

Padmaavat
Box office collection: Rs 302.15 crore/Rs 3.02 billion

Ranveer Singh went all out to unleash his wild side as Alauddin Khilji in Sanjay Leela Bhansali's Padmaavat.

He pursued Deepika Padukone's titular queen and killed her husband Shahid Kapoor in bloody battle.

But the climax where Deepika and all the women in the kingdom commit jauhar is perhaps even more spine-chilling.

 

Kabir Singh
Box office collection: Rs 278.24 crore/Rs 2.78 billion

The violence here was not as physical as it was emotional.

Kabir Singh seemed to glorify gender-based violence and justify Kabir Singh's -- played by Shahid Kapoor -- abusive relationship with his girlfriend Preeti (Kiara Advani).

His toxic masculinity was so alarming, it started a lot of conversations at the time of its release.

 

RRR [Hindi]
Box office collection: Rs 274.31 crore/Rs 2.74 billion

S S Rajamouli's RRR was peppered with violence, as NTR Jr fought with a tiger and Ram Charan battled hundreds of protestors.

The violence wasn't gory, but there was enough of blood.

 

The Kashmir Files
Box office collection: Rs 253 crore/Rs 2.53 billion

The violence in The Kashmir Files was terrifying, as Director Vivek Agnihotri showed chilling moments of a genocide. The climax was particularly brutal when a woman's body was sliced in a saw mill.

 

Rowdy Rathore
Box office collection: Rs 133 crore/Rs 1.33 billion

The posters and trailers of Rowdy Rathore screamed, 'Don't Angry Me' and Director Prabhu Deva showed that in the film too.

Whenever Akshay Kumar got angry, he would not hold back his punches.

If villain Nasser's army of goons spread terror in the village, Rowdy Rathore responded the same way.

 

Agneepath (New)
Box office collection: Rs 115 crore/Rs 1.15 billion

When Amitabh Bachchan's Agneepath released in 1990, it was among the most violent Hindi films.

When Director Karan Malhotra gave us his version of the film in 2012, and cast Hrithik Roshan, the violence got worse.

In fact, the sheer presence of Rishi Kapoor was frightening, as he unleashed terror while Sanjay Dutt was just pure evil.

 

Ghajini
Box office collection: Rs 114 crore/Rs 1.14 billion

South directors know just how to present violence on screen, and A R Murugadoss managed it perfectly when he remade his Tamil hit Ghajini with Aamir Khan.

The sequence of Asin's murder was terrifying, and when Aamir avenged her, the violence went up a notch.

 

Pushpa (Hindi)
Box office collection: Rs 108.50 crore/Rs 1.09 billion

'Pushpa naam sunke flower samjhe kya? Flower nahi, fire hai main, Jhukunga nahi.'

When Allu Arjun says these lines in Telugu, you know it's a bomb waiting to explode.

Pushpa unleashes a series of events, where one violent sequence follows another at an alarming pace.