Bollywood celebrates rocking year, riding high on action flicks, unbridled masculinity and misogyny

India’s Hindi language movie industry made an impressive recovery after a pandemic-driven slowdown, audience fatigue with big studio productions and Bollywood megastars, and streaming platforms taking away a large chunk of viewership. According to consultancy firm Ormax Media, the cumulative box office in 2023 pulled in $1.3 billion, making it one of the best-grossing years of all time. Indian moviegoers — both the masses and niche film lovers — are back in theaters and the massive commercial success of big-ticket Bollywood films has set at ease fears that Mumbai’s glitzy dream factory was losing its shine.