Bollywood
Ajay Devgn's Son of Sardaar 2 vs Siddhant Chaturvedi–Tripti Dimri's Dhadak 2 Box Office: A Final Nail In The Franchises' Coffin?
Mumbai, August 23 - In Hollywood, the superhero fatigue has been real, especially post the Covid-19 pandemic, where MCU and DC films (barring a few) have not performed to the level of pre-Covid. This led to debate whether the audience is moving away from superhero films, other than die-hard fans who are still keeping those films alive. While superhero films may or may not survive this fatigue in the long run in the West, there is franchise fatigue brewing in the Indian cinema, especially in Bollywood, and it seems real. In 2025, there have been half a dozen franchise Bollywood releases so far, and barring only Raid 2, all other films failed to become hits at the box office. The first week of August 2025 saw the release of two highly anticipated Bollywood sequels, Ajay Devgn's Son of Sardaar 2 and Siddhant Chaturvedi-Tripti Dimri-starrer Dhadak 2. Both films carried the weight of their predecessors' names, but unfortunately, neither managed to ignite the box office, further showing the disconnection of audiences with sequels. While failure or success is the part and parcel of cinema, what was alarming was that these sequels struggled to even match the opening day numbers of their originals, sparking discussions about whether the franchises have reached their end. Even other franchise films like War 2 and Housefull 4 failed to take big openings, thus ending up as box office failures. Released on the same day, August 1st, Son of Sardaar 2 took an initial lead in the clash, with an underwhelming opening of around 7.25 crore. However, despite the better start compared to Dhadak 2, the film has grossed only around 65 crore worldwide in 3 weeks, ending up as a disaster. Ajay Devgn- On the other hand, Dhadak 2 fared even worse. Opening with a meagre 3.50 crore net, the film collected only 30 crores worldwide in 3 weeks. Despite featuring promising talent like Siddhant Chaturvedi and Tripti Dimri, the sequel failed to capture the cultural resonance that the first Dhadak—a remake of Sairat—enjoyed. The combined total of both films will be less than 100 crores, against over 260 crores of the original films. What made matters worse for both films was the dominance of Saiyaara, which has been on a record-breaking spree, and Mahavatar Narsimha, which continues to pull massive family audiences. With these two blockbusters commanding the majority of footfalls, Son of Sardaar 2 and Dhadak 2 could not find breathing space at the ticket counters. In the end, while Son of Sardaar 2 clearly outperformed Dhadak 2 in raw numbers, both sequels have been branded as big flops. Their disappointing runs suggest that the audience's appetite for these franchises has dried up. Unless revived with radically fresh storytelling, this box office clash may well have hammered the final nail in the coffins of the Son of Sardaar and Dhadak series. Stay tuned...
