Top 3 Highest-Grossing Hindi films Released in 2023

Pathaan

 Pathaan (pronounced [pəʈʰaːn]) is a 2023 Indian Hindi-language action thriller film directed by Siddharth Anand and written by Shridhar Raghavan and Abbas Tyrewala, from a story by Anand. The fourth installment in the YRF Spy Universe, it stars Shah Rukh Khan in the titular role with Deepika Padukone, John Abraham, Dimple Kapadia, and Ashutosh Rana. In the film, Pathaan (Khan), an exiled RAW agent, works with ISI agent Rubina Mohsin (Padukone) to take down Jim (Abraham), a former RAW agent, who plans to attack India with a deadly virus.

Produced by Aditya Chopra of Yash Raj Films, the film began principal photography in November 2020 in Mumbai. The film was shot over various locations in India, Afghanistan, Spain, UAE, Turkey, Russia, Italy and France. Two songs were composed by the duo Vishal–Shekhar, while Sanchit Balhara and Ankit Balhara provided the score. The film was made on an estimated production budget of ₹225 crore (US$28 million) with a further ₹15 crore (US$1.9 million) spent on print and advertising. Against the norm, pre-release publicity was limited with no media interaction or public events.

Pathaan was theatrically released in India on 25 January 2023, coinciding with the Republic Day weekend, and generally received positive reviews from critics who praised its action sequences, music and cast performances. The film holds the box office records for the highest opening day, highest single day, highest opening weekend and highest opening week for a Hindi film in India. It eventually became the highest grossing Hindi language film ever in India and set new records in all major overseas markets like US - Canada, UAE - GCC, United Kingdom and Australia. The film has grossed ₹1,050.3 crore (US$130 million) worldwide, becoming the highest-grossing Indian film of 2023, the second-highest-grossing Hindi film of all time, the fifth-highest-grossing Indian film of all time and the seventeenth highest grossing film of 2023. The film set several other box office records in India and for a Hindi language film. Pathaan became the first Hindi film to gross ₹1,000 crore (US$130 million) worldwide without a China release.

The Kerala Story

The Kerala Story is a 2023 Indian Hindi-language drama film directed by Sudipto Sen and produced by Vipul Amrutlal Shah. It stars Adah Sharma, Yogita Bihani, Sonia Balani, and Siddhi Idnani. The plot follows a group of women from Kerala who are coerced into converting to Islam and joining the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS). Marketed as a true story, the film is premised on the Hindutva conspiracy theory of "love jihad", and falsely claims that thousands of Hindu women from Kerala have been converted to Islam and recruited in ISIS.

The Kerala Story was released in theatres on 5 May 2023. With a worldwide gross of ₹303.97 crore (US$38 million), it became the third-highest-grossing Hindi film of 2023. It was heavily promoted by the incumbent Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which leveraged the film in its campaigning for the Karnataka assembly election.

However, film critics accorded it overwhelmingly negative reviews, characterizing the work as Islamophobic propaganda. The film has also faced protracted litigation and protests, primarily in Kerala, West Bengal and Tamil Nadu.

Bholaa

Bholaa is a 2023 Indian Hindi-language action adventure film directed by Ajay Devgn and jointly produced by Ajay Devgn FFilms, Reliance Entertainment, T-Series Films and Dream Warrior Pictures. It is a remake of the critically-acclaimed 2019 Tamil film Kaithi and stars Devgn in the titular role alongside Tabu, Deepak Dobriyal, Sanjay Mishra, Gajraj Rao and Vineet Kumar.

Principal photography took place from January 2022 to January 2023 in Mumbai, Hyderabad and Varanasi. The film score and soundtrack album are composed by Ravi Basrur with cinematography by Aseem Bajaj and editing by Dharmendra Sharma.

Bholaa was released on 30 March 2023 and received mixed reviews from critics. The film has grossed ₹111.64 crore (US$14 million) worldwide as of 4 May 2023, thus becoming the sixth-highest-grossing Hindi film of 2023.