2 crore: 2025’s biggest box office bomb had a superstar, yet was taken off screens in 6 days”>
₹70 crore, earned ₹2 crore: 2025’s biggest box office bomb had a superstar, yet was taken off screens in 6 days” data-collapse-article=”true” >
Updated on: Dec 31, 2025 12:06 pm IST
The biggest flop of 2025 saw 97% losses, and despite the presence of a superstar, was taken off theatres in less than a week.
A look back at the box office receipts of 2025 shows us the success of Dhurandhar, Kantara Chapter 1, Saiyaara, Chhaava, and Lokah Chapter One – films that defied expectations and rewrote record books. Yet, on the other end of the spectrum, over 80% of Indian film releases in 2025 flopped. Many failed so badly that several unwanted records were broken. The biggest box office bomb of the year registered a loss of 97% and was taken off theatres in less than a week. And all this, despite the presence of a superstar on the back of his biggest hit.
Mohanlal in a still from the ill-fated Vrusshabha. 2025’s biggest box office bomb
Vrusshabha, the Malayalam epic drama, released in theatres this Christmas. Starring Mohanlal in the lead, the film was said to be among the most ambitious projects ever in the history of Malayalam cinema. Mohanlal featured in the film on the back of the stupendous success of L2: Empuraan, which ended its run as the highest-grossing Malayalam film ever. Naturally, the expectations were high. Yet, the result was disastrous. Vrusshabha earned just ₹60 lakh domestically on day 1 and almost drew a blank internationally. Its earnings dipped significantly on day 2, and did not recover even as the weekend arrived. By the end of its 6th day, it had earned ₹1.5 crore in India and just $30K overseas. This gave it a worldwide gross of a mere ₹2 crore, a striking 97% less than its reported budget of ₹70 crore.
When the presence of Mohanlal failed to lift the film, many theatres in Kerala began to cut back their losses and removed the film from their screens by Tuesday, which meant it failed to even complete a week in theatres. Vrusshabha is expected to end its run without adding much more to its kitty.
All about Vrusshabha
Written and directed by Nanda Kishore, Vrusshabha stars Mohanlal in a dual role, spanning two timelines, where he portrays a medieval king and a modern-day businessman. The film also stars Samarjit Lankesh, Nayan Sarika, Ragini Dwivedi, Ajay, and Neha Saxena. Vrusshabha released on December 25 in Malayalam, Telugu, Hindi, and Kannada.
