Sunny Deol, Varun Dhawan, Diljit's Border 2 becomes highest-grossing Indian war film ever; beats Fighter, Uri, Kesari

Border 2 is now India's highest-grossing war film, eclipsing blockbusters like Vicky Kaushal's Uri and Hrithik Roshan's Fighter.

Updated on: Feb 1, 2026, 13:45:18 IST

By Abhimanyu Mathur

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War drama Border 2 has scaled a high peak in just nine days of release. It is now the highest-grossing Indian film centred on a war or conflict, grossing over ₹350 crore worldwide. Border 2, a spiritual sequel to JP Dutta’s Border, is directed by Anurag Singh and stars Sunny Deol, Varun Dhawan, Diljit Dosanjh, and Ahan Shetty in the lead roles.

Border 2 stars Sunny Deol, Varun Dhawan, Diljit Dosanjh, and Ahan Shetty.

Border 2 becomes highest-grossing war film

By Saturday, its ninth day in theatres, Border 2 had earned ₹252.25 crore net ( ₹303 crore gross) domestically. This includes a staggering ₹60 crore net on Republic Day. Internationally, the film’s overseas collection stands at just over $5 million. This has taken the film’s global haul to an impressive ₹350 crore. On Saturday, the film surpassed the collections of two films also centred on cross-border conflicts - Uri and Fighter. Uri, directed by Aditya Dhar, starred Vicky Kaushal in the lead role. The 2019 film earned ₹342 crore worldwide. Fighter starred Hrithik Roshan and Deepika Padukone, and grossed ₹344 crore upon release in 2024. Border 2 has now surpassed both. It is also well clear of Akshay Kumar’s Kesari, which grossed ₹202 crore.

Border 2’s impressive feat is largely because most of India’s most successful war films were released pre-2000, when box office numbers were much lower. The film is still way behind Border and Haqeeqat in terms of footfalls.

The all-time record

If calculated through footfalls in India (since overseas numbers are dodgy pre-2000), Border remains the most successful Indian war film, with over 3.7 crore tickets sold during its initial run. Dharmendra-starrer Haqeeqat also sold just under 2 crore tickets upon its release in 1964-65. In comparison, Border 2 is way behind with just over 1 crore tickets sold so far domestically. The figure is unlikely to eclipse Border 1 or Haqeeqat.

Period epics like Mughal-e-Azam or Baahubali are not considered war dramas, else Border 2 would have had an even steeper mountain to climb. Both these films sold over 10 crore tickets in India.

About Border 2

Produced by Bhushan Kumar, Krishan Kumar, J.P. Dutta, and Nidhi Dutta, Border 2 also stars Mona Singh, Sonam Bajwa, Medha Rana, and Anya Singh in pivotal roles. The T-Series boss told HT that Border 3 is on the cards in the future, following the film’s success.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Abhimanyu Mathur
Abhimanyu Mathur is Deputy Editor, Entertainment at Hindustan Times. With almost 15 years of experience in writing about everything from films and TV shows to cricket matches and elections, he inhales and exhales pop culture and news. Currently, he watches movies and TV shows and talks to celebrities for a living, while occasionally writing about them as well. A journalism graduate of Delhi College of Arts and Commerce, Delhi University, Abhimanyu began his career with Hindustan Times at the age of 20, swapping classrooms for newsrooms at an early age. He began his journey in the early days of digital journalism, later switching to the madness of print journalism. Work has led him to far off places like Japan and Jordan, as well as to the interiors of Haryana and the Indo-Pak border. He dabbled in city reporting in places like Meerut, Gurgaon, and Delhi, covered the Olympics and Cricket World Cups, before finding his calling in entertainment and lifestyle during the pandemic. A Rotten Tomatoes Certified Film Critic, he is equally at home covering stories on ground as he is interviewing celebrities and studios, and sometimes prefers to shepherd teams in delivering traffic through the day. Even as his role has evolved from reporter to supervisor over the years, his first love remains writing (and of late, talking on camera). With a good understanding of cinema and its trends, and a keen eye for detail, he continues to spark conversations around showbiz for readers around the world.Read More

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