New Delhi: UPSC aspirants, a spiritual healer, a sponsored office group celebrating the Jain festival of Samvatsari, and a woman who had not stepped foot in a theatre in the last 20 years. These were some of the audience members packed into the Odeon Inox multiplex in Delhi’s Connaught Place to watch the surprise hit Hanuman Ansh.
Produced on a shoestring Rs 2 crore budget, director Vishal Chaturvedi’s devotional Hindi film has performed something of a miracle at the box office. After a tepid opening on 7 August, it now ranks as the third-highest-grossing Hindi film of 2026, and the ninth-highest-grossing Indian film of the year. There are no big-ticket actors, suspenseful plot twists or promotional blitzes to explain its rise. On a Tuesday afternoon, the film saw a nearly packed hall at the multiplex, with a roughly 50:50 male-female ratio.
Sixty-five-year-old Sunita Verma came all the way from Old Delhi in what was her first visit to a movie hall in two decades. Hanuman Ansh seemed like a film that finally catered to her sensibilities. One of the big draws for her was that it was a clean film and a stark contrast to adrenaline-filled Bollywood movies that show graphic violence and super-charged sexuality.
“We don’t usually like other movies because they have a lot of violence, and are very loud. We try to stay away from the kinds of songs that are released these days,” Verma said, speaking also for the other older women in her family. “Par ye hamare matlab ki picture hai. We follow Sanatan Dharm, so this felt right for us.” She had decided to give the movie a shot at the behest of her children.
Hanuman Ansh surpassed the combined Day 40 earnings of both Dhurandhar films on 15 September. The low-budget film, which was earlier dismissed, has had a surprise late pick-up at the box office. The praise for the film spread largely through word-of-mouth publicity, infiltrating into WhatsApp groups, social media and RWA groups. It has raked in over Rs 231 crore in India so far. Yet at CP’s Odeon Inox multiplex, there was no promotional material for Hanuman Ansh to be seen. Multiplex staff said the film had never sent any posters for promotion.
Also Read: Hanuman Ansh beats Dhurandhar to become most profitable film of 2026
‘A miracle’
The movie chronicles the life of Neem Karoli Baba, a famed spiritual leader whose ashram was visited by Apple’s Steve Jobs and whose teachings also influenced the likes of Ram Dass and Julia Roberts. The baba was a staunch devotee of the Hindu god Hanuman, and the film depicts this devotion through a string of miracles attributed to him.
A sense of awe and righteousness pervaded the hall. Every time a miracle occurred on screen, someone in the audience had already predicted it a few seconds before. When the prediction came true, it only seemed to confirm their belief in the baba’s powers. Even after the movie had ended, many stayed put in their seats, soaking in the devotional end-credits song, Hridey mein Jinkey Seeta Ram.
While most of the audience had heard stories about Neem Karoli Baba before, Hanuman Ansh took them closer to his personality. It presented him as endearing and relatable, as opposed to larger than life. Ever smiling and somewhat mischievous, the baba’s antics elicited chuckles from the audience every time he showed a crooked character the light.
A watermelon thief attempting to escape the field, an impassioned freedom fighter who refused to believe in the irrationalities of religion, a Muslim police officer who had locked him up in jail—the baba dealt with every act of unkindness with his signature smile and the power of devotion. The implicit message to the audience was that faith could help them get through life’s toughest moments.
Durbind Mishra, a 35-year-old resident of Delhi’s Mahipalpur, rarely watches movies in theatres. He made an exception for Hanuman Ansh, coming with his wife, sister and two-year-old daughter.
“This is a movie that has no advertisements or posters,” Mishra said. “It’s a movie that was going to be a big flop after its first week, but soon became a blockbuster, as though through a miracle. We have come to watch this miracle.”
Born and raised in a village in Ballia, Uttar Pradesh, Mishra has worked at the Customs office in Delhi for the last 12 years. The last movie he watched in a theatre was Vivek Agnihotri’s 2022 The Kashmir Files. What makes any film worth the price of a ticket for him is that it needs to be “unique”. He was not just impressed by the film’s underdog status, but convinced that its religious underpinnings helped it overcome that predicament.
Faith meets FOMO
Many were drawn to the theatres to watch Hanuman Ansh because of a strange mix of FOMO and faith.
The pull of Sanatan Dharm brought Ishwar Gurdita, a 63-year-old housewife from Dwarka, to the cinema along with her girl gang of four friends and family members. The group meets every Tuesday for a collective reading of the Hanuman Chalisa.
“Everyone in our families was asking us if we had seen the movie,” one of the women chimed in. “This was all people were talking about in my satsang.”
The women said they jumped at the idea of watching it together when one of them suggested it, even though they don’t go to the theatres often.
While the women had heard about Neem Karoli Baba before, they agreed that Hanuman Ansh had left them with a renewed belief in his powers.
“We could not get up from our seats even after the movie had ended,” gushed Gurdita. “We felt like we had reached heaven.”
There is some organised effort in bringing audiences to the theatre as well. Residents’ groups, office employers and prayer committees are also mobilising people to watch the film. In many cases, it is part of a group viewing activity.
A group of 22 male employees from Connaught Place’s Kota Kachori-Falahaar street food joint were watching the movie as part of an outing sponsored by the owner. The employees had been given half a day off to celebrate the Jain festival of Samvatsari. For the men, it was an opportunity to combine a fun outing with religious values.
“We have come to watch this movie surrounding Hanumanji so that we develop compassion, love and kindness toward each other,” said Ramlal Acharya, a 36-year-old member of the group, who comes from Rajasthan’s Sawai Madhopur.
Also Read: After Neem Karoli Baba, it will be Tulsidas. Hanuman Ansh director announces ‘RamBola’
Once not enough
For many viewers, watching the film once was not enough. UPSC aspirants Aparajita Patel and Mahi Shandilya, who are 28 and 29 respectively, had come to watch it for a second time after a “surreal” first experience. The two “Hanuman bhakts” from Patna currently live in Delhi’s Patel Nagar.
“Movies about spirituality usually feel fake or made up, but this one was so easy to connect with,” said Patel. What resonated most with her was that the film showed a man trying to balance his worldly responsibilities with his spiritual longings — something she contends with in her own life too.
Inspired by the movie and its central character, the friends recently booked tickets to Neem Karoli, the ashram and temple complex dedicated to the baba in Uttarakhand.
“It was like a calling for us,” said Patel, adding that the germ had been planted through Instagram Reels of the ashram. “We saw it, we manifested it, and then it happened.” Several other audience members too said they wanted to visit the ashram after watching the film.
Repeat visits to the theatre are another feature of Hanuman Ansh’s success. There is a relatability, even a pious calling, that brings viewers back again.
Sweety Jain, a 30-year-old preschool teacher, was planning to watch the movie for a third time because she loved its animation, VFX and sense of devotion. Nancy Agarwal, 37, had already watched it twice — once with her mother and again with her husband’s family — because she wanted to ensure they experienced it too.
Agarwal, who works in healing and meditation, said the film’s spiritual side appealed to her. The resident of Delhi’s CC Colony visits the ashram at Neem Karoli for darshan whenever she’s in that part of the country. For her, the film is a counterpoint to the gratuitous violence often seen in mainstream releases.
“Mostly, we see movies like Animal running in theatres. Those feel very violent and toxic,” she said. “A movie like Hanuman Ansh helps bring positivity to people’s lives. People should watch it for that.”
(Edited by Asavari Singh)