After a brief shift toward women-led storytelling, Bollywood in 2025 saw a decisive return to male-dominated narratives, with violent action thrillers and hypermasculine heroes driving box-office success and cultural debate across India.
The year’s defining film was Dhurandhar, an espionage thriller starring Ranveer Singh and set against India–Pakistan tensions. Filled with graphic violence and gangland politics, the film emerged as the biggest hit of the year and became a symbol of Bollywood’s renewed fascination with aggressive male protagonists. Its success reflected a broader trend in which larger-than-life male characters reclaimed dominance in mainstream cinema.
This marked a sharp contrast with 2024, when films by women directors such as All We Imagine As Light, Girls Will Be Girls and Laapataa Ladies drew international acclaim and reshaped perceptions of Indian cinema abroad. Film critics at the time described that period as a breakthrough moment for women filmmakers, raising hopes of a sustained shift toward more diverse and textured storytelling.
Instead, 2025’s top box-office performers were overwhelmingly male-led, ranging from historical epics like Chhaava to action spectacles such as War 2. Even romance and mythological films centred male experiences of pain, power and redemption, reinforcing traditional ideas of heroism. Analysts say the trend signals both a commercial recalibration by studios and a cultural moment in which familiar masculine tropes once again resonate strongly with domestic audiences, raising questions about the long-term space for women-driven narratives in mainstream Bollywood.
