Breaking Down the IMDb Report: How ‘Baahubali’ Set the Tone for Indian ‘Mass’ Films, Redefined by ‘Saiyaara’, and ‘12th Fail’

The buzzword of the last five years in Hindi cinema and trade has been ‘mass’. Every room, every discussion, every armchair box-office analyst stressed the urgent need for more massy films, and that mostly meant big-scale, rooted action dramas, much like the home-grown stories from Southern cinema. However, as the industry navigates the post-pandemic landscape, and a decade after the seismic impact of Baahubali: The Beginning, some films have redefined ‘mass’ and brought back the spotlight on what it means beyond the spectacle: Something that makes people feel seen, as described in the detailed quarter-century IMDb Report.

According to the number of IMDb page views garnered between 2020 and 2024, the 25 Years of Indian Cinema report mentioned two crucial lists: Top movies in southern states (based on page views from Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, and Telangana) and top movies in the rest of India.

A close examination of the report captures the shift over the years, where films that resonate across the board made it to the top 10 ranking, and even within that, there was an interesting marker.

Since 2020, seven of the 10 most viewed movies in the southern states list were southern productions, and two of the remaining three were directed by southern filmmakers (Atlee’s Jawan and Sandeep Reddy Vanga’s Animal). The only film from a Hindi-language filmmaker on the list was 12th Fail.

This top 10 list is dominated by action thrillers or big-scale spectacles, led by Pushpa: The Rule- Part 2, Leo and Salaar: Part 1- Ceasefire, rounding the top 3. Apart from 12th Fail, the only other non-action film in the 10 most viewed movies in the Southern states was Pradeep Ranganathan-starrer coming-of-age comedy Dragon.

The trend is sharper outside the region, which has a mix of actioners and pan-India films. The top 5 films in the 10 most viewed movies across the rest of India are dominated by mighty, tentpole actioners (from KGF Chapter 2 to RRR), but it is movies ranked sixth, eighth, and ninth that paint a new, defining image of the industry: Saiyaara, 12th Fail, and Jai Bhim.

Screengrab of the IMDb report

All the titles—irrespective of the scale—have a shared DNA: of resonating with a wider audience.

The top 10 lists underscore a palpable yearning among viewers for narratives that mirror their own lives, echoing their struggles, triumphs, and emotions in a way that can be authentic, relatable, but also spectacular. The misconception that ‘mass’ equates to pulpy masala entertainment has led many to overlook the fact that a well-crafted, mass film is precisely what resonates with a broad audience, regardless of genre.

Amidst a spectacle-dominated trend across the industries, three films—Jai Bhim, Saiyaara and 12th Fail—mentioned in the report break the ‘mass’ formula which the industry had defined for them.

Suriya swung his star power behind an intimate legal drama Jai Bhim (2021), to make a story from Tamil Nadu resonate at a pan-India level, in a genre that wasn’t a safe bet post-pandemic. Even in Hindi, the two films which took the trade by surprise were not powered by action, violence, or jaw-dropping VFX. Instead, they were stories of young love, heartbreak, and survival which connected at a ‘mass’ level.

Vidhu Vinod Chopra’s 12th Fail starring Vikrant Massey narrates the story of a man who escaped extreme poverty to become a police officer. The humble film was the big box-office surprise of 2023, the year which also saw records being broken by titans like Pathaan, Gadar 2, Jawan and Animal.

The new ‘mass’ continued even in 2025, with another genre tagged risky post-pandemic breaking all records—and notions—with the romantic drama Saiyaara. The Mohit Suri directorial emerged as the highest-grossing film led by newcomers (Ahaan Panday, Aneet Padda) and also stood high in the IMDb ranking.

In a previous interview with The Hollywood Reporter India, producer Siddharth Roy Kapur was asked about the misinterpretation of ‘mass’ films and why that needs to change.

“'Mass' is anything that can appeal to a large swathe of the audience, regardless of the genre. Dangal, Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham and Hum Aapke Hai Koun are all mass films. The biggest hit of 2024, Stree 2, is not a masala action film but a horror-comedy without big superstars. We do ourselves a huge disservice by categorising mass in a narrow box. So,

let's not paint ourselves into a box thinking that only one kind of cinema is going to work today.”

Roy’s words are echoed by the findings of the IMDb reports, which state, “The success of 12th Fail across regional lines is notable in this regard. It signals that the conversation is no longer about Hindi versus Southern cinema. Instead, India’s mass audience is seeking stories in which they feel seen.”

To read more insights, download the full report on www.imdb.com/india/25-years-of-indian-cinema-report