The Indian box office has witnessed several remarkable success stories in 2026, but few have been as unexpected as the success of the spiritual drama ‘Hanuman Ansh’. Made on a reported budget of around Rs 2 crore, the Vishal Chaturvedi directorial has emerged as one of the year’s most profitable releases when measured by return on investment, surpassing Ranveer Singh‘s blockbuster ‘Dhurandhar 2’ on a percentage basis. Starring Chandan Anand and Shobhinav Satyaa, ‘Hanuman Ansh’ has achieved its success without a major star cast, extensive promotional campaign or the scale associated with big-budget commercial releases.
‘Hanuman Ansh’ box office journey so far
According to trade tracker Sacnilk, ‘Hanuman Ansh’ has collected around Rs 54.74 crore net in India, while its domestic gross collection stands at approximately Rs 64.54 crore. The numbers are particularly remarkable considering the film opened to only around Rs 10 lakh on its first day. With little star-driven hype or a major marketing campaign behind it, the film initially appeared to have a modest theatrical run ahead of it. However, strong word-of-mouth changed its trajectory. Instead of witnessing the steep drop typically associated with a low opening, ‘Hanuman Ansh’ continued to attract audiences in the days and weeks that followed. Its collections gradually climbed as viewers recommended the film to others. Made on a reported budget of just Rs 2 crore, the film’s current theatrical earnings represent a return of more than 20 times its production cost. On a simple production-cost-to-gross comparison, that translates into returns of roughly 2,000 per cent.
‘Hanuman Ansh’ vs ‘Dhurandhar 2’: Who wins the profit battle?
The comparison becomes particularly striking when ‘Hanuman Ansh’ is placed alongside ‘Dhurandhar 2: The Revenge’. In terms of absolute box-office performance, Aditya Dhar‘s Ranveer Singh-led action thriller is in a completely different league. Sacnilk puts its India net collection at around Rs 1,149.30 crore, with the domestic gross at approximately Rs 1,375.39 crore and worldwide gross at around Rs 1,813.39 crore. However, the equation changes when the focus shifts from total collections to return on investment.‘Dhurandhar 2’ was made on a significantly larger budget, with estimates of around Rs 125 crore being used for this comparison. Based on that figure, its theatrical returns amount to roughly 10 times the production cost, translating to close to a 1,000 per cent return on investment. By comparison, ‘Hanuman Ansh’ has earned more than 20 times its reported Rs 2 crore production cost. This puts the spiritual drama ahead on a percentage-return basis, despite ‘Dhurandhar 2’ generating vastly higher profits in absolute rupee terms. In other words, ‘Dhurandhar 2’ remains the much bigger commercial blockbuster, while ‘Hanuman Ansh’ delivers the more extraordinary return relative to the money spent making it.
How ‘Hanuman Ansh’ pulled off a box-office turnaround
The film’s journey is what makes its profitability particularly noteworthy. ‘Hanuman Ansh’ opened quietly, earning approximately Rs 10 lakh on day one. Yet positive audience feedback gradually turned the film into a word-of-mouth success. With audiences continuing to discover it, the film maintained its theatrical run well beyond the initial opening period. The film’s spiritual subject, centred on the life and teachings of Neem Karoli Baba, appears to have helped it connect with a specific audience that continued to support it over several weeks. Rather than relying on the conventional combination of a major star, extensive advertising and a large opening weekend, ‘Hanuman Ansh’ built its business organically through audience response.The contrast between ‘Hanuman Ansh’ and ‘Dhurandhar 2’The contrast between ‘Hanuman Ansh’ and ‘Dhurandhar 2’ highlights two very different definitions of box-office success. ‘Dhurandhar 2’ has delivered an enormous theatrical haul and established itself among the biggest Hindi blockbusters of the year. Its success has been driven by scale, star power, franchise value and massive audience demand. ‘Hanuman Ansh’, meanwhile, represents the other end of the spectrum. Made for a fraction of the cost of a mainstream blockbuster, the film started with virtually no commercial momentum but gradually transformed into a major theatrical success. With a reported Rs 2 crore budget and around Rs 54.74 crore India net collection so far, the film has turned a modest investment into an extraordinary return.Ultimately, the two films cannot be compared on the basis of total box-office earnings alone. ‘Dhurandhar 2’ wins by a massive margin in absolute collections and profit, but when the metric is percentage return on production investment, ‘Hanuman Ansh’ delivers the more remarkable result.
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