War drama Border 2 has scaled a high peak in just nine days of release. It is now the highest-grossing Indian film centred on a war or conflict, grossing over ₹350 crore worldwide. Border 2, a spiritual sequel to JP Dutta’s Border, is directed by Anurag Singh and stars Sunny Deol, Varun Dhawan, Diljit Dosanjh, and Ahan Shetty in the lead roles.
Border 2 becomes highest-grossing war film
By Saturday, its ninth day in theatres, Border 2 had earned ₹252.25 crore net ( ₹303 crore gross) domestically. This includes a staggering ₹60 crore net on Republic Day. Internationally, the film’s overseas collection stands at just over $5 million. This has taken the film’s global haul to an impressive ₹350 crore. On Saturday, the film surpassed the collections of two films also centred on cross-border conflicts – Uri and Fighter. Uri, directed by Aditya Dhar, starred Vicky Kaushal in the lead role. The 2019 film earned ₹342 crore worldwide. Fighter starred Hrithik Roshan and Deepika Padukone, and grossed ₹344 crore upon release in 2024. Border 2 has now surpassed both. It is also well clear of Akshay Kumar’s Kesari, which grossed ₹202 crore.
Border 2’s impressive feat is largely because most of India’s most successful war films were released pre-2000, when box office numbers were much lower. The film is still way behind Border and Haqeeqat in terms of footfalls.
The all-time record
If calculated through footfalls in India (since overseas numbers are dodgy pre-2000), Border remains the most successful Indian war film, with over 3.7 crore tickets sold during its initial run. Dharmendra-starrer Haqeeqat also sold just under 2 crore tickets upon its release in 1964-65. In comparison, Border 2 is way behind with just over 1 crore tickets sold so far domestically. The figure is unlikely to eclipse Border 1 or Haqeeqat.
Period epics like Mughal-e-Azam or Baahubali are not considered war dramas, else Border 2 would have had an even steeper mountain to climb. Both these films sold over 10 crore tickets in India.
About Border 2
Produced by Bhushan Kumar, Krishan Kumar, J.P. Dutta, and Nidhi Dutta, Border 2 also stars Mona Singh, Sonam Bajwa, Medha Rana, and Anya Singh in pivotal roles. The T-Series boss told HT that Border 3 is on the cards in the future, following the film’s success.
