Lush green valleys of Switzerland. Violins in the background. A woman in a saree runs across the frame. A man opens his arms — and millions fall in love.

Romance, in all its forms — the classic climax chase, the love triangle, the tragic ending — dominated Bollywood in the 1990s and well into the 2000s. These decades gave us some of the most iconic films. Films that still draw crowds on Valentine’s Day. Films that became history. Their albums played on loop and dialogues quoted endlessly.

But, after being smitten in love for years, it seems like Bollywood has moved on.

“Pyaar… dosti hai”
("Love...is friendship")
(1995-2004)

In seven of the ten years, the highest grossing film of the year belonged to the romantic genre.

The decade was marked by some of the most iconic romantic Bollywood films, including Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge (DDLJ), Devdas, Dil Toh Pagal Hai, Raja Hindustani, Mohabbatein and Veer-Zaara. DDLJ, released in 1995, remains the longest-running film ever, having played continuously since its release. In 2025, it will mark 30 years in theatres.

A genre analysis of blockbuster and hit films from the last three decades shows how romance, once the ruler of the box office, slowly faded away.

Films have multiple genres, but for this analysis, each film has been classified based on its dominant narrative tone. All romantic sub-genres — including rom-coms, romance-action, romance-drama, and romantic-thrillers — have been grouped under a single “romance” category. Similarly, films labelled as action, action-comedy, or action-thriller have been grouped as “action.” Horror, sci-fi, masala and thriller films have been clubbed together as “others.”

From mustard fields to machine guns
(2005-2014)

While the decade did see some memorable romantic hits — Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani, Bodyguard, and Jab Tak Hai Jaan among them — it was largely defined by Bollywood’s three Khans: Salman Khan, Aamir Khan, and Shah Rukh Khan.

Action became the dominant flavour, with films like Dabangg, Ghajini, Ek Tha Tiger, and the Dhoom series ruling the box office. By the second half of the decade, the shift was prominent, and Bollywood had found a new love.

It was now chasing spy thrillers, action-packed cop dramas, and big-budget heist films.

“Yeh Naya Hindustan Hai”
("This is a new India")
(2015-2025)

By this decade, the violins had quietened. But the silence was replaced by the noise of films high on jingoism, hyper-nationalism and historical themes.

This year’s blockbuster, Chhaava, a biopic of Sambhaji Maharaj, the second ruler of the Maratha empire, took a leaf out of the same book. Films in recent years have glorified Hindu rulers and portrayed Muslim rulers as evil oppressors.

Alongside historical epics, there has been a rise in politically loaded films such as The Kerala Story, a film that claimed to tell the “true” story of 32,000 girls who had fled the South-Indian state Kerala to join Islamic State (the figure has been debunked by a fact-checking website Alt-News).

The Kashmir Files, which depicts the exodus of Kashmiri Hindus from the Kashmir valley in the 1990s, has been criticised for its portrayal of Kashmiri Muslims. Article 370 is another example that tried to promote the ideological stance of the ruling government in India on Kashmir.

A boys' club

The 250 films analysed were made by 131 different directors. The industry, long dominated by men, began to see women delivering superhits in the 2010s — but only a few.

Over the three decades analysed, just five female directors have delivered 10 blockbusters or hits. These include Farah Khan (3), Zoya Akhtar (2), Meghna Gulzar (2), Gauri Shinde (2), and Reema Kagti (1).

As many as 126 male directors have given 240 hit films, the most by David Dhawan (14), followed by Rohit Shetty (8) and Anees Bazmee (7).

Bollywood's hit films with female directors

Similarly, films led by women have been few and far between. With the exception of Bandit Queen (1996), most were seen only in the 2010s.

Of the 250 films analysed, just 14 featured a female lead at the centre of the story.

Some of the most successful include Shraddha Kapoor’s Stree and Stree 2, Alia Bhatt’s Raazi (2018), and Vidya Balan’s The Dirty Picture (2011).

Bollywood's hit films led by the female lead

Methodology

The story analyses the genres of 250 hit films over the last 30 years. The names of all films released during the period were first scraped from IMDb. Since budget and box office figures were not consistently available, Wikipedia entries were used as an alternative. The Wikipedia URLs for all films were fetched, and details such as title, year, cast, director, budget, and box office were extracted. These details were then cross-checked manually with two other sources: Box Office India and Bollywood Hungama.

Movies were then filtered to identify box office hits using three factors: total box office collection, ROI, and net profit. Finally, they were classified by genre, by whether they were directed by men or women, and by whether an actress played the lead role. All analysis is based on data collected until July 31, 2025.

The movie posters used in the charts were sourced from the OMDb API.

This is an independent analysis produced as part of coursework for Columbia University’s Lede Program, 2025. The views expressed here are solely those of the author.