After a stellar March, April proved to be a damp squib at the box office, with Rs 457 crore amassed all month, making it the worst-performing month of 2024 so far. Even though the month’s most-anticipated Hindi releases, Bade Miyan Chote Miyan and Maidaan, underperformed, Malayalam topped the monthly box office charts for the first time in the history of Indian cinema, powered by a standout showing by Aavesham, as per the India Box Office Report by Ormax Media.
With a collection of Rs 101 crore, Malayalam drama Aavesham rode on the star power of Fahadh Faasil to finish at the head of the box office standings for April. Aavesham became the third Malayalam film to surpass Rs 100 crore in 2024, following in the footsteps of Manjummel Boys and Aadujeevitham — The Goat Life. Coming in at a distant second at Rs 73 crore was Bade Miyan Chote Miyan, where the combination of Akshay Kumar and Tiger Shroff could not generate the desired impact. Ajay Devgn’s turn as football coach Syed Abdul Rahim in Maidaan may have earned critical plaudits, but the film failed to score up to the mark in terms of hard numbers, roping in Rs 61 crore for third place.
Varshangalkku Shesham, a Malayalam period comedy drama, ended April in fourth place with a collection of Rs 46 crore, while the much-hyped pairing of Vijay Deverakonda and Mrunal Thakur could only take Telugu romantic film The Family Star to fifth spot and Rs 27 crore in April.
Aavesham’s performance meant it broke through into the 10 highest-grossing films of the year at eighth place, sandwiched between Aadujeevitham — The Goat Life (Rs 104 crore) and Teri Baaton Mein Aisa Uljha Jiya (Rs 99 crore). Hrithik Roshan-Deepika Padukone-starrer Fighter still remains top of the pile with Rs 243 crore.
With April becoming the first month to fail to meet the Rs 500 crore mark since February 2023, the cumulative collection for 2024 stands at Rs 3,071 crore, at par with the same period for last year.
In terms of language share for the first four months of 2024, Malayalam now finds itself at 19 per cent, closing in on Telugu (21 per cent), but still well behind Hindi (36 per cent).
