The final quarter of 2023 could not have got off to a better start at the box office than the record-breaking release of Shah Rukh Khan-starrer Jawan in September. With a collection of Rs 1,353 crore, September joins August and March as the most successful months of the year so far, as per The India Box Office Report by Ormax Media. Jawan, which is now the highest-grossing film of 2023, alone generated almost half of September’s box office numbers.

While different language industries use different parameters for assessing box office numbers (Gross, Nett or Share), Ormax’s report adopts Gross Box Office as the unified measurement. Under this, a film’s collection is always attributed to the month of its release, even if the film goes on to produce more or better numbers in the subsequent months. For films released in multiple languages, box office numbers reflect the contribution of such films to all the corresponding languages.

Led by power-packed performances from Shah Rukh Khan, Vijay Sethupathi and Nayanthara, Atlee-directed Jawan finished September with a staggering collection of Rs 733 crore. To put that number into perspective, it is Rs 226 crore more than what the rest of September’s top 10 films managed together. It also means that Jawan leapfrogged Shah Rukh’s other biggie Pathaan (Rs 646 crore) and Sunny Deol-starrer Gadar 2 (Rs 614 crore) to become the biggest box office hit of 2023 so far.

Trailing Jawan on the September standings was Fukrey 3, which collected an impressive Rs 101 crore, with the Tamil science-fiction film Mark Antony grabbing third spot with Rs 90 crore. Kushi, a Telugu romantic comedy starring Vijay Deverakonda and Samantha Ruth Prabhu, earned fourth place with Rs 78 crore, while Michael Chaves’s horror film The Nun II put in a steady showing in fifth place with Rs 54 crore.

Jawan’s astronomical success has given 2023 a golden opportunity to become the most successful year in India’s box office history, alongside becoming the first to cross the threshold of Rs 12,000 crore. At its current rate, 2023 is estimated to gross Rs 11,730 crore, but with potential blockbusters such as Tiger 3, Salaar and Dunki still to come that figure could well shoot up once the year draws to a close.

In terms of the language share at the box office for September, Hindi kept up its momentum to move from 39 to 42 per cent, making it a full 10 per cent higher than the same time last year. Telugu narrowly beat Tamil to second place, closing out the month at 17 per cent, one percentage point higher than Tamil.