This Tamil star’s film outdid Akshay Kumar’s Kesari Chapter 2, Sunny Deol’s Jaat in April

Following a dip in March, the Indian box office regained momentum in April 2025, with gross domestic collections reaching ₹825 crore.

The April box office numbers are in, and the surprise of the season is a Tamil film that's given Bollywood's big guns a run for their money. Outperforming Akshay Kumar's Kesari Chapter 2 and Sunny Deol's Jaat, this film has proven that language is no barrier to success. Can you guess which film it is? 

A Tamil film has emerged as the top-grossing film of April 2025.

Tamil film outdoes Akshay, Sunny at box office

According to the India Box Office Report for the month of April by Ormax Media, Ajith Kumar’s Good Bad Ugly, emerged as the top-grossing film of April 2025. It grossed ₹183 crore at the box office, going on to become the highest-grossing Tamil film of the year so far.

The Malayalam film Thudarum, starring Mohanlal, follows closely, raking in ₹148 crore at the domestic box office. Note that the report only considered the film's earnings from the Malayalam and Telugu language markets, as the Tamil version was released in May 2025. 

Akshay Kumar’s Kesari Chapter 2 is third on the list. Hindi films Kesari Chapter ( ₹107 crore) and Sunny’s Jaat ( ₹103 crore) were the only films to cross the ₹100 crore gross mark in April 2025.

With four Malayalam films in this month’s Top 10 highest-grossing films (Thudarum, Alappuzha Gymkhana, Maranamass & Bazooka), April 2025 has turned out to be a good month for Malayalam Cinema, grossing over ₹200 crore cumulative only for the second time ever after February 2024.

The box office report

The Indian box office regained momentum in April 2025, with gross domestic collections reaching ₹825 crore, including estimated future collections from films still running in theatres, following a dip in March. As per the report, the cumulative box office for 2025 releases stands at ₹3,691 crore, which is 19% higher than the same period in 2024.

When it comes to the top 10 releases of 2025 (Jan-April), based on gross domestic box office across all language versions, Vicky Kaushal’s Chhaava is winning the race with ₹693 crore, followed by Sankranthiki Vasthunam at ₹222 crore and then Good Bad Ugly at ₹183 crore.

Hindi and Telugu languages lead the list of the top grossers of 2025 so far with three films each. With the addition of Good Bad Ugly and Thudarum, Tamil and Malayalam languages now have two films each in the top 10 films of 2025. As per the data, there is currently no Hollywood film in the list, but that can change in May 2025, with the release of Tom Cruise’s Mission: Impossible—The Final Reckoning.