5 min readUpdated: Nov 17, 2025 01:51 PM IST
2000-2025. That’s a quarter century, right there. Twenty-five years, in which Bollywood has changed in monumental leaps and small incremental doses, both going hand-in-hand, as these things always do. We have been right here, marking those changes, of how those years stacked up, pointing out the films– and shows– that became the marker for each year of this millennium, starting with 2000, even though, technically, it started in 2001.
So tune in to our very special series, which will run for the next 25 days, in which we will give you a quick snapshot of the year, the films that made the top grossing bracket, and the films which didn’t. But we will go beyond the box office and give you the films which stood out, and those which changed the game.
And here we go, starting with 2000. The top-grossing Hindi films that came out that year were a mix of everything that had gone before: stars and stories that had been in play for years.
And then came Kaho Na Pyar Hai (KNPH), and blew everything off the table. The year 2000 will always be known for this film, which created a new star of the kind that Bollywood used to be able to whistle up on demand, but never could after this youthful love story, in which Rakesh Roshan introduced his son.
Ameesha Patel and Hrithik Roshan in Kaho Na Pyaar Hai. (Express archive photo)
Hrithik is the first, and last, ‘star son’ who created a sensation at the box office with his debut feature as a singing-dancing-romancing hero. How he moved — none of the jerky, break-dance-y steps favoured by Mithun and Govinda– but a modern iteration which combined a black net singlet, dark glasses, and electric moves. Very sexy, very cool.
With the success of KNPH, Hrithik became the biggest challenger for the three Khans who had shaped the 90s: it is another matter that nothing that he did after, including Koi Mil Gaya and the Krrish series was as big.
Here we are in 2025, and the Khans are as big as they ever were. And Hrithik, while still a big star, is no longer counted in the same breath as the trio. Last seen, Roshan Jr was exhorting us to watch War 2, which tanked at the box office, on Netflix, and that’s an irony no one saw coming: a big movie star who was created for the large screen asking us to watch his film on a streaming platform!
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If you’re looking for the one thing that tells you that this is a permanent change in the theatre vs streaming wars, here it is.
The other big dhamaka that happened in 2000 was on television. Star TV created a double whammy in the shape of Kaun Banega Crorepati, and Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi. The first gave the weathering-over-a-tough-slope Amitabh Bachchan a new lease of life: he had been struggling to find his place post his attempted comeback — after his failed stint as a politician — and his films had all nose-dived. Hosting KBC, with that sonorous ‘deviyon and sajjanon’ baritone and the black-and-white beard, ensured that he was back, this time playing his age as the benevolent senior citizen who would help participants become crorepatis.
Bachchan is still at it, and KBC is still locked and loaded, give or take kids who think they know more than the venerable host, and everyone else.
Amitabh Bachchan on the sets of Kaun Banega Crorepati. (Express archive photo)
Saas Bahu may have won the TRP game, but it led to endless copies, and spelled the death of creativity on television. With Ekta Kapoor throwing everything and the kitchen sink at the saga, which became an instant hit, everything else bowed out of TV.
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Gone were the days of Swabhimaan and Shanti, Banegi Apni Baat and Jassi Jaisa Koi Nahin: K serials (Ekta was ahead of the curve, figuring out the importance of the word K, way before Korean dramas became all the rage) took over. Saas, bahus, snakes, spaghetti blouses, sneering sisters-in-law, and slo-mo took over TV fiction, to the point that those who wanted to do something different were forced to look for different mediums altogether: YouTube became a first mover, and now it’s all about streaming platforms.
KBC and KSBKBT were the defining TV moments of 2000, destined to become iconic popular culture markers. As we inch close to the end of 2025, two moments from recent episodes of these still-running programmes have gone viral, a term which was only used in context of a fever in those days — a smart-mouthed kid up against Bachchan telling us that it was all about parenting or the lack of it, and Smriti Irani, now the Ba of the household, chatting with Bill Gates on nutrition and motherhood.
Watch out for our next instalment on 2001, out tomorrow. The party, as they say, abhi toh shuru hui hai.
Ameesha Patel and Hrithik Roshan in Kaho Na Pyaar Hai. (Express archive photo)
Amitabh Bachchan on the sets of Kaun Banega Crorepati. (Express archive photo)
A quick snapshot of showbiz in 2000.