Picture this. Shah Rukh Khan’s movie opens with 45 crore on day one, shattering every record in existence. Across town, a small film about a woman traveling solo after getting dumped opens to crickets. Three months pass. The Shah Rukh film is forgotten. The solo woman film is winning National Awards.
Welcome to 2014. The year Bollywood had an identity crisis and somehow emerged better for it.
This was the year when big budget masala entertainers and small budget meaningful cinema existed in the same universe without destroying each other. When Salman Khan could Kick his way to 200 crores while Kangana Ranaut became Queen with a film that cost less than Salman’s vanity van budget. When Aamir Khan played a naked alien critiquing religion and became the highest grossing film of the year.
2014 proved something revolutionary. Audiences weren’t choosing between brains and entertainment anymore. They wanted both. And for one glorious year, Bollywood delivered.
But here’s what nobody talks about. The biggest blockbusters of 2014 are mostly forgotten today. Meanwhile, the smaller films? They launched careers, won awards, and created legacies that endure 11 years later. That 19 year old girl who played a kidnapping victim in Highway? She’s now one of Bollywood’s biggest stars. That film about a boxer from the Northeast that people said wouldn’t work? It redefined what biopics could achieve.
Share this with anyone who thinks Bollywood peaked in the 90s. 2014 would like a word.
When Shah Rukh’s Record Breaking Opener Lost To Aamir’s Alien
Happy New Year released October 24, 2014 with the kind of hype reserved for moon landings. Farah Khan directed Shah Rukh Khan in a heist comedy about dancers infiltrating a robbery. The cast included Deepika Padukone, Abhishek Bachchan, Boman Irani, Sonu Sood, and Vivaan Shah. The budget was a reported 150 crores including Shah Rukh’s fee.
Opening day collections? 44.97 crores. Not 44 crores. Forty four point nine seven crores. The highest domestic opening in Indian cinema history at that point. The film dominated Diwali weekend, pulling in massive numbers through sheer star power and festival timing.
Critics hated it. Audiences showed up anyway because it was Shah Rukh Khan at Diwali. The film ultimately collected 203 crores domestically and 383 crores worldwide. A massive commercial success by any metric.
Then PK released December 19, 2014. Rajkumar Hirani directed Aamir Khan as a big eared, wide eyed alien who lands on Earth, loses his communication device, and embarks on a journey questioning religion, faith, and human contradictions. The cast included Anushka Sharma, Sushant Singh Rajput, Boman Irani, and Saurabh Shukla.
Opening day? 26.63 crores. Almost half of Happy New Year’s record. Initial reactions suggested it was a respectable opening but wouldn’t match Shah Rukh’s blockbuster.
Then word of mouth kicked in. Day two jumped to 30.34 crores. Day three hit 38.44 crores. The film had legs. Strong, unstoppable, marathon runner legs. PK ran for weeks, collecting 236.28 crores domestically and ultimately grossing 435.71 crores worldwide.
It demolished Happy New Year’s lifetime collections despite opening with half the numbers. Critics loved it. Audiences loved it. It sparked national conversations about religion and blind faith. It faced protests from religious groups. It trended globally. It became a cultural phenomenon.
The contrast is striking. Happy New Year had the bigger opening, the bigger budget, and the bigger marketing blitz. PK had better writing, sharper performances, and something to actually say. One relied on spectacle. The other relied on substance. Substance won.
Don’t miss how the women of 2014 quietly revolutionized Bollywood next.
The Year Female Actors Stopped Waiting For Permission
Something shifted in 2014. Female actors stopped accepting that their careers peaked at 30 or that playing the hero’s love interest was the ceiling. They started carrying entire films on their shoulders. And audiences showed up.
Queen released March 7, 2014. Vikas Bahl directed Kangana Ranaut as Rani, a shy Delhi girl whose fiancé dumps her days before their wedding. Instead of crying at home, she goes on her planned honeymoon to Paris and Amsterdam alone. What follows is a journey of self discovery, female friendship, and finding confidence in unexpected places.
The film opened to 2 crores. Two. Crores. Distributors panicked. Early shows had empty seats. Then something magical happened. Women started telling other women to watch it. The film became a movement. Collections grew steadily, eventually reaching 95 crores against a budget of 23 crores.
Kangana Ranaut won the National Film Award for Best Actress. Her second National Award at age 27. Critics called it the best Hindi film of 2014. Decades later, Queen remains a touchstone for female centric cinema done right.
Highway released February 21, 2014, three weeks before Queen. Imtiaz Ali directed Alia Bhatt as Veera, a privileged girl kidnapped during a botched robbery. Instead of trauma, she finds unexpected freedom on the road with her captor played by Randeep Hooda. AR Rahman’s haunting soundtrack amplified the emotional journey.
Alia Bhatt was 19 years old. This was only her third film. The role required her to portray complex trauma, Stockholm syndrome, and gradual awakening to life beyond her gilded cage. She delivered a career defining performance that critics still reference as one of her finest.
The film didn’t set the box office on fire but earned critical acclaim and established Alia as an actress willing to take risks. Every bold choice she’s made since, from Udta Punjab to Gangubai Kathiawadi, traces back to Highway proving she could handle difficult material at 19.
Mary Kom released September 5, 2014. Omung Kumar directed Priyanka Chopra as the legendary boxer Mary Kom in a biopic spanning her rise from rural Manipur to world champion. The film faced controversy. Critics questioned why someone from the Northeast wasn’t cast as Mary Kom. Priyanka addressed concerns by dedicating herself completely to the role, training extensively, and channeling her grief over her father’s recent death into the performance.
The film worked. Priyanka’s transformation was convincing. The boxing sequences felt authentic. The emotional beats landed. Mary Kom collected solid numbers and earned multiple award nominations. More importantly, it proved biopics about female athletes could succeed commercially.
Rani Mukerji returned in Mardaani, directed by Pradeep Sarkar and produced by Aditya Chopra. She played a tough cop taking down a child trafficking ring. After years away from lead roles, Rani reminded everyone why she was one of Bollywood’s finest actresses. The film was gritty, hard hitting, and gave Rani a role with actual substance.
Four female led films. Four different genres. Four actresses at different career stages. All four succeeded creatively if not always commercially. And collectively, they signaled that female centric cinema wasn’t a trend. It was a necessity.
Vishal Bhardwaj Brought War To Kashmir And Nobody Was Ready
Haider released October 2, 2014. Vishal Bhardwaj’s third Shakespeare adaptation after Maqbool (Macbeth) and Omkara (Othello) tackled Hamlet, transplanting it to conflict torn Kashmir in 1995.
Shahid Kapoor played Haider, a student who returns home to find his father disappeared and his mother romantically involved with his uncle. The political backdrop is the Kashmir insurgency, military operations, and the human cost of endless conflict. Tabu played his mother. Kay Kay Menon played his uncle. Shraddha Kapoor played his childhood love torn between family loyalty and her feelings for Haider.
The film was fearless in its politics. It showed military excess. It depicted Kashmiri anger. It refused to take sides in the simplistic way Bollywood typically handles Kashmir. Characters were morally ambiguous. Violence had consequences. The emotional devastation felt real.
Controversially, the film included a reference to mass graves and disappearances in Kashmir. Right wing groups protested. The film faced calls for bans. But it also earned critical acclaim for refusing to sanitize a conflict that has consumed Kashmir for decades.
Shahid Kapoor delivered one of his career best performances. The scene where he performs Hamlet’s “to be or not to be” soliloquy as “Chutzpah,” a public performance mocking his situation, is searing. His gradual descent into madness, rage, and grief is devastating to watch.
Tabu as his mother gave a masterclass in playing complex, morally questionable characters. Her performance earned widespread praise. Kay Kay Menon brought menace and ambition to his role. The ensemble work elevated material that was already exceptional.
Haider won five National Film Awards including Best Actress for Tabu, Best Music Direction, and Best Choreography for the “Bismil” sequence shot at the Martand Sun Temple in Kashmir. The film didn’t match the box office success of Bhardwaj’s earlier Shakespeare adaptations, but it stands as his most ambitious and politically daring work.
Setting a Hamlet adaptation in Kashmir during the insurgency was either genius or madness. Turns out it was both. And Bollywood needed that kind of fearless storytelling.
The Masala Movies That Kept The Lights On
While critics obsessed over Queen and Haider, Bollywood’s big stars did what they do best. Make money.
Kick starring Salman Khan released July 25, 2014. Sajid Nadiadwala directed his debut film, a remake of his own Telugu production. Salman played a commitment phobic adrenaline junkie who becomes a vigilante thief. The film had everything Salman fans wanted: action, comedy, romance, and the superstar’s signature shirtless scenes.
Critics dismissed it. Fans didn’t care. Kick collected 232 crores domestically, making it one of 2014’s biggest hits. For Salman, it was another in an endless series of blockbusters that proved his formula works regardless of critical opinion.
Singham Returns brought back Ajay Devgn’s supercop Bajirao Singham in Rohit Shetty’s sequel to the 2011 hit. Released August 15, 2014 on Independence Day weekend, the film delivered exactly what was promised: Ajay fighting corruption, delivering punch dialogues, and single handedly taking down dozens of goons. Kareena Kapoor Khan provided the romantic angle.
The film collected 141 crores domestically. Not a record breaker but a solid commercial success that reinforced Rohit Shetty’s position as Bollywood’s most reliable blockbuster director.
Bang Bang, directed by Siddharth Anand and starring Hrithik Roshan and Katrina Kaif, released October 2, 2014. An official remake of Knight and Day, the film featured spectacular action sequences, international locations, and Hrithik performing death defying stunts. It collected 181 crores domestically despite mixed reviews.
Ek Villain, directed by Mohit Suri and starring Sidharth Malhotra, Shraddha Kapoor, and Riteish Deshmukh, released June 27, 2014. A psychological thriller with a romantic core, the film surprised everyone by collecting 105 crores against a modest budget. The music especially the haunting “Galliyan” became a massive hit.
These films kept multiplexes packed and cash registers ringing. They employed thousands of crew members, showcased technical excellence in action choreography and cinematography, and gave audiences the escapist entertainment they craved.
Were they memorable? Mostly no. Did they matter? Absolutely yes. Because these commercial juggernauts created the economic ecosystem that allowed smaller, riskier films to get greenlit.
Share this with anyone who thinks all mainstream Bollywood is garbage. It’s not. It’s just different.
The Hidden Gems That Deserved Better
While blockbusters dominated headlines and award winners got critical love, a few films slipped through the cracks despite being extraordinary.
Aankhon Dekhi, directed by Rajat Kapoor and starring Sanjay Mishra, released March 21, 2014. The film tells the story of Bauji, a middle aged man who after a life changing incident decides to believe only what he sees with his own eyes. No secondhand information. No assumptions. Only direct experience.
It’s a philosophical fable wrapped in gentle comedy. Sanjay Mishra gave a career defining performance as a man whose simple decision to trust only his senses creates ripples throughout his family and community. Rajat Kapoor’s direction found the perfect balance between whimsy and weight.
The film collected minimal box office returns. Critics who saw it called it brilliant. Most people never saw it. Years later, it’s developed a cult following among cinephiles who regard it as one of the finest Hindi films of the decade. Sanjay Mishra’s work here ranks among the great character performances in Indian cinema.
Miss Lovely, directed by Ashim Ahluwalia, released January 17, 2014. The film dove deep into Mumbai’s underground C-grade horror and sex film industry of the 1980s. Nawazuddin Siddiqui played one of two brothers producing these exploitation films in an ecosystem built on sleaze, crime, and desperation.
Shot in a gritty, almost documentary style, Miss Lovely recreated a parallel Bollywood that existed in the shadows. The film screened at Cannes in 2012 but struggled to find an audience in India when it finally released. The subject matter was too niche. The tone was too dark. But for those who saw it, Miss Lovely revealed a lost world that mainstream Bollywood pretends never existed.
Hasee Toh Phasee, directed by Vinil Mathew and produced by Dharma Productions, released February 7, 2014. The rom com paired Sidharth Malhotra as a wannabe entrepreneur with Parineeti Chopra as an eccentric scientist. Their chemistry and the film’s quirky sensibility made it stand out from typical romantic comedies.
The film did decent business but deserved better. Parineeti’s performance as the socially awkward genius was charming and layered. Sidharth showed he could do light comedy. The screenplay by Harshavardhan Kulkarni avoided rom com cliches, creating characters who felt like actual people rather than types.
These films prove 2014’s real legacy wasn’t about box office records or awards. It was about variety. About filmmakers trying different things even if audiences didn’t always show up.
What 2014 Actually Meant For Bollywood’s Future
Look at Bollywood in 2025 and trace the roots back to 2014. That’s when the ecosystem shifted.
Alia Bhatt’s career exploded after Highway. She became the actor willing to take risks, choose challenging roles, and prioritize performance over glamour. From Udta Punjab to Raazi to Gangubai Kathiawadi, her trajectory started with a 19 year old girl brave enough to play a kidnapping victim with empathy and complexity.
Kangana Ranaut’s Queen didn’t just win awards. It proved female led films without male stars could succeed commercially. It launched a thousand pitches for women centric scripts. Not all succeeded, but the door opened.
Vishal Bhardwaj’s Haider demonstrated political cinema could work in mainstream spaces. It faced backlash but stood its ground. Filmmakers learned you could tackle controversial subjects if the craft was solid and you weren’t afraid of consequences.
The success of Mary Kom and later biopics proved audiences wanted real stories about real people, especially those from backgrounds Bollywood typically ignored. From Dangal to Chhapaak to Gunjan Saxena, the biopic boom traces back to 2014 proving the model worked.
Even the blockbusters mattered. PK’s willingness to question religious orthodoxy while still being massively entertaining showed social messaging and commercial success weren’t mutually exclusive. Every subsequent film that tried to be both meaningful and mainstream owes PK a debt.
2014 was the last time Bollywood felt genuinely experimental while still being commercially viable. Studios took risks. Stars chose interesting scripts. Directors tried new things. Audiences rewarded quality across genres.
Compare that to 2025 where everything feels safer, more formulaic, more focused on franchise building and brand extensions. The adventurous spirit of 2014 feels like ancient history.
The Box Office Math That Changed Everything
Here’s the fascinating economics of 2014. The year’s top five grossers were PK, Happy New Year, Kick, Bang Bang, and Singham Returns. Combined, they collected over 900 crores domestically. Massive numbers proving audiences still turned up for star driven entertainers.
But look closer at the economics. Queen cost 23 crores and collected 95 crores. That’s over 4x return on investment. Highway’s budget was around 28 crores with collections around 50 crores. Still profitable. Haider cost approximately 24 crores and earned around 40 crores. Not a huge hit but not a disaster.
Compare those margins to Happy New Year. Budget of 150 crores. Collections of 203 crores. Seems great until you factor in marketing costs and profit sharing. The actual profit margin was lower percentage wise than Queen’s.
This is what producers noticed. You could make smaller, quality films with actors who charged reasonable fees, and if the content was strong, still turn healthy profits. The risk was lower. The prestige was higher. And occasionally, you’d strike gold like Queen that became both a critical and commercial success.
That realization changed how movies got greenlit. More content driven films got made through 2015 to 2018. Not all succeeded, but the willingness to try increased exponentially.
Drop a comment: What’s your favorite 2014 Bollywood film? Did big budget spectacle or small budget substance win your heart? Share this with your film buff friends because 2014 deserves way more credit than it gets.
Follow for more deep dives into the years that shaped Bollywood. Because sometimes looking back reveals where we lost our way forward.
When a single year can give you everything from Aamir Khan’s naked alien questioning God to Kangana Ranaut finding herself in Amsterdam to Shahid Kapoor losing his mind in Kashmir, that year mattered. 2014 wasn’t perfect. But it was bold. It was varied. It was willing to try everything. And for one glorious year, Bollywood remembered that cinema is supposed to surprise you. Miss those days yet?
