Bollywood asianculturevulture vibes – ‘Welcome to the Jungle’, ‘Peddi’ strike big and slow burn ‘Main Vaapas Aaunga’
Our bird in Mumbai reports back on the monthly box office collection – and while cinemagoers have been impressed by superstars Akshay Kumar and Ram Charan – many will be hoping the rains do finally descend…
IT’S OFFICIALLY the monsoons in India but the inclement weather has eluded almost the whole country so far. It’s the fifth driest June month on record since 1901.
Here, in Mumbai, the situation is dire because the city depends on rains for its annual drinking water supply. And, right now there is only seven per cent of water left in city reservoirs. Water rationing looks a distinct possibility, unless a welcome deluge falls on the city, sooner rather than later.
Akshay Kumar’s much-awaited comedy entertainer ‘Welcome To The Jungle’ started with a bang at the box office, emerging as one of the biggest Bollywood openers of 2026.
Directed by Ahmed Khan, the third instalment in the Welcome franchise hit theatres on June 26 with an earning of £1.2 million; two days prior, its paid previews had generated £322,000.
On Saturday, the collections shot to £1.6m due to positive word-of-mouth publicity. The momentum continued on Sunday with the comedy’s collections rising to £2.04m. By the end of the first weekend, the film had minted an impressive £13.7m worldwide.
It’s an action comedy with a host of stars including Suneil Shetty, Disha Patani and Jacqueline Fernandes, among the standout ones, alongside Akki, as he is sometimes called affectionately. It’s about a group of quirky characters getting stuck in the jungle, two compromised cops and gangsters on the loose…and fear about a terrorist plot.
The film is expected to cross the ₹100 crore (£8.06m) India net milestone, if it maintains a healthy hold beyond this week.
Trade analysts are optimistic that ‘Welcome To The Jungle’ could emerge as one of the biggest comedy blockbusters of the year, continuing the successful legacy of the Welcome franchise.
It’s rare for movie sequels to release after a gap of more than a decade and do well at the box office, but ‘Cocktail 2’ has managed to do that.
Its first instalment released way back in 2012 with Saif Ali Khan, Deepika Padukone and Diana Penty in the lead.
The 2026 version features a different ensemble; Shahid Kapoor, Kriti Sanon and Rashmika Mandanna. Only the director remains the same, Homi Adajania.
On June 19, the first day of its box office run, the romantic drama collected £1.05m. The following Saturday and Sunday the footfalls rose, adding another £1.3m and £1.4m to the film’s kitty. Its weekend worldwide collections stood at £3.8m.
Like most theatrical releases, the film experienced a decline the following week. It collected less than £500,000 on both Monday and Tuesday, and added less as the week went on. As things stand, ‘Cocktail 2’ has minted about £10.2m worldwide. It’s believed to be budgeted around £12m, which is massive for a romantic comedy.
Much was expected of the David Dhawan comedy ‘Hai Jawani Toh Ishq Hona Hai’ which stars his son Varun Dhawan, Mrunal Thakur and Pooja Hegde. The comedy veteran had returned to the big screen after a gap of six years. The film released on June 6 with a meagre £600,000 followed by a poor showing throughout its box office run, which ended with a collection of £6.7m. Interestingly, the film did end up making a profit because of its low budget of £4.4m.
Director Imtiaz Ali’s much anticipated ‘Main Vaapas Aaunga’, staring Diljit Dosanjh failed to impress the audiences at the box office but the film has picked in spurts because of strong word of mouth recommendations as time has elapsed. It’s getting increasingly difficult to find it in the cinema in the UK, despite the amount of social media attention it is generating locally in the UK.
The movie started with a lacklustre £92,000 on June 12, its first day. It continued with the same trajectory until June 20 when it hit jackpot with a collection of £350,000 and then £463,000 the next day. The £5.6m film has so far collected just about £6m making a small profit to its producers.
Ali is one of the best recognised directors in India and lead Dosanjh, who despite his recent citizenship change (from Indian to American) remains hugely popular. He became the first Indian origin artist to ever sell out Wembley Stadium in recent times – he will be coming for those dates in September. The film also features the music of AR Rahman and so on paper, expectations must have been high.
South Indian cinema delivered the biggest box-office fireworks during June thanks to the Telugu action drama ‘Peddi’ starring Ram Charan.
Released on June 4, the film crossed £26m worldwide within just 20 days and became the highest-grossing Telugu film of the year.
Even before its release, the film collected £1.4m from paid previews. Day one saw a massive collection of £4.1m. Surprisingly, day two, three and four saw slumps, £2m, £2.3m and £2.5m. At the end of the first week, the film had collected a massive £15.5m, adding up to its massive haul.
One of the biggest Bollywood news of June was the growing anticipation surrounding the upcoming mega-budget project, ‘Ramayana’.
Discussions about its scale, visual effects, and expected box-office potential dominated entertainment headlines throughout June. Some are predicting a spend of around £500m with this and the sequel coming through relatively close to each other. Trade analysts predict the film could become one of the biggest Indian releases ever, generating huge excitement months before its release. It’s scheduled to come out at Diwali time – which is likely to be in the second week of November…
July will see movies such as ‘Alpha’ with Alia Bhatt; Anil Kapoor and Bobby Deol; ‘Dhamaal 4’ with Ajay Devgn, Riteish Deshmukh and Arshad Warsi.
‘Raftaar’ featuring Rajkummar Rao, Keerthy Suresh and Tanya Maniktala, and the film, ‘The India Story’ are also set to release too.
