'Border 2' Box-Office Report: Sunny Deol's war drama scores 2nd highest Republic Day collection after Shah Rukh Khan's 'Pathaan,' collects Rs 59 crore on January 26

For Border 2, the timing could not have been better, even almost three decades later. Sunny Deol was fresh off the success of Gadar 2, a film that proved nostalgia and recall value are exactly what audiences were looking for. It reaffirmed that viewers were still eager to see Deol in a macho, angry, nationalism-proclaiming avatar.

The film that released on January 23 has opened to a smashing response and seems to be the first blockbuster of 2026. It scored the 2nd highest Republic Day collection after Shah Rukh Khan’s ‘Pathaan,’ and collected Rs 59 crore on January 26. Khan’s action potboiler had minted Rs 65 crore three years back. The total collections of Anurag Singh’s war drama are Rs 180 crore so far.

Trailer heave on patriotism

The wait has finally come to an end, well, almost. The trailer of Border 2 was released today and while it attempts to retain the emotional and sentimental core that defined the original, it is hard to ignore how heavily it leans into nationalism, at times bordering on jingoism.

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Loud, but contextually justified

Before anyone is too quick to label this view as ‘woke’, it is worth acknowledging the context. To boost the morale of soldiers, strength has to come through in voice and action. These are moments of life and death, of defending the nation against an enemy.

Yes, Sunny Deol appears to be screaming at the top of his voice in almost every scene to motivate his men, but this is a space he has always owned. It is an element he excels at, and within the framework of the film, it feels justified.