Aanand L Rai’s Tere Ishk Mein has turned out to be the box-office surprise that Bollywood has been waiting for. The Dhanush and Kriti Sanon-starrer opened at over Rs 15 crore on November 28, and is expected to close the weekend at approximately Rs 60 crore. What about the film has worked when most Hindi movies struggle to stay afloat at the box office?
Delhi-based exhibitor Gurmeet Seble points to its depiction of the dark side of love. “There is a real pull for stories where love feels dangerous and high-stakes.”
Dhanush’s performance as the heartbroken lover is among the film’s biggest draws. Videos from theatres across Chennai, Hyderabad, Delhi, and Mumbai show crowds reacting to the climax with feverish energy. Trade analyst Girish Wankhede points out that it has as much to do with the leading man’s portrayal as with the unrequited love story’s writing. Wankhede elaborates, “Saiyaara was Gen Z–friendly and stylish, and Ek Deewane Ki Deewaniyat found strong loyalty among tier-2 and -3 viewers. Tere Ishk Mein knows exactly whom it is speaking to. This one is for jilted lovers everywhere.”
Wankhede believes such love stories will almost always find takers in India. He reasons, “We’re used to such love stories – Khilona [1970], Darr [1993], Tere Naam [2003], and so on. Break-ups and unrequited love are part of our system. We love underdogs who are madly in love, but not getting that love back. We are a country of Devdas-es.”
Another encouraging sign is that Tere Ishk Mein is performing well across urban centres as well as mass pockets like Punjab, Bihar, and Rajasthan. Trade analyst Taran Adarsh notes that Rai’s movie has broken the recent pattern of Hindi cinema making “multiplex films catering only to five cities”. “It’s rooted. A common man in Jabalpur or Patna is responding to it just as much as someone in Mumbai is. [In the past few months], we alienated our mass pockets. Our actors became metro-centric. Those choices don’t get you numbers.”
On Dhanush’s crossover appeal, Adarsh dismisses old industry binaries. “Calling him a ‘Tamil superstar working in the North’— these are compartments we’ve created. The audience doesn’t care. They want a good story. And Dhanush delivers.”
He credits the film’s opening momentum to the trailer. “The trailer did the trick. People instantly connected with a man who falls in love, loses it and the tone felt raw. And importantly, it’s not a dubbed film. That authenticity matters.”
Adarsh also believes the cult following of Raanjhanaa has directly transferred to Tere Ishk Mein. “There’s a comfort the audience has with the Dhanush–Aanand L. Rai pairing. You can feel it in the film.”
What elevates the performance, he says, is Dhanush’s restraint. “A hallmark of a fine actor is that he doesn’t need to show off. Someone else from Bollywood might have gone louder. Dhanush keeps quiet, promotes less, and lets the work speak.”
He also uses the film’s reception to critique Bollywood’s recent approach. “Tere Ishk Mein is proof that when you give people a story with emotional heft, they turn up. Even the music broke internal trade assumptions. They saved a song like ‘Aawara Angara’ for later and now post-film, that`s all over our social media.”
Rs 60 cr
Estimated weekend collection of ‘Tere Ishk Mein’ across languages
5100
Screens across the country playing the movie
