It is not new for films to unexpectedly become hit at the box office. 2024 also had a few surprise hits that were able to create new records, specifically in terms of their respective budgets.

The first in the list is Ajay Devgn's Shaitaan, which featured R. Madhavan as the antagonist. It turned out to be a surprise for the audience, who witnessed the underwhelming work of director Vikas Bahl in films such as Ganapath.

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Shaitaan also led to a rise in the popularity of horror films, leading to Munjya. The latter additionally featured comedy elements and it received a decent opening despite that the makers did not go for heavy promotions compared to other big projects.

Munjya even contributed to the popularity of Dinesh Vijan's Maddock Supernatural Universe. Munjya was followed by Stree 2 and three more films are being developed in the franchise.

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At the beginning of the year, multiple films clashed on the occasion of Makar Sankranthi. However, Teja Sajja's Hanu-Man recorded the biggest numbers in terms of box office collections.

The action-drama was also able to defeat Mahesh Babu's Guntur Kaaram, which witnessed a drop in collections by the second day due to negative word-of-mouth.

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The next is Sivakarthikeyan's Amaran, which was based on the life of Major Mukund Varadarajan.

It turned out to be one of the highest-grossing Tamil films of this year considering that it faced competition with big films such as Lucky Baskhar, Singham Again, and Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3.

With a total of four releases in 2024, Fahadh Faasil impressed everyone with his performance as Ranga in Aavesham. With a minimal budget, the film grossed more than Rs. 100 crores and was praised for its comedy elements and characters.

2025 also has a long list of films being released on different occasions. However, it remains to be seen if the upcoming year can create better records with similar projects.