By the numbers
- Films: 121 since 2002; 62 in the last ten years (cameos and guest appearances not counted)
- Recent films with figures: 7 of 14 since 2021
- Hits: 1 (0 blockbusters), average: 2, flops: 4 – a hit rate of 14%
- Average return: 1.04x budget; best: Tere Ishk Mein 1.75x; weakest: The Gray Man 0.00x
- Biggest hit: Raayan (2024), ₹160 cr
- Trend: last five films 1.17x on average, the five before 0.73x (up)
- Born: 1983-02-25
- Awards on Wikidata: 2
| Year | Film | Budget | Box office | Return | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | Kara | ₹100 cr | ₹50 cr | 0.50x | Flop |
| 2025 | Nilavuku En Mel Ennadi Kobam | – | – | – | No figures |
| 2025 | Nilavaku En Mel Ennadi Kobam | – | – | – | No figures |
| 2025 | Tere Ishk Mein | ₹85 cr | ₹148 cr | 1.75x | Hit |
| 2025 | Idli Kadai | ₹70 cr | ₹71 cr | 1.02x | Flop |
| 2025 | Kuberaa | ₹120 cr | ₹115 cr | 0.96x | Flop |
| 2024 | Raayan | ₹100 cr | ₹160 cr | 1.60x | Average |
| 2024 | Captain Miller | ₹50 cr | ₹73 cr | 1.46x | Average |
| 2023 | Vaathi/Sir | – | – | – | No figures |
| 2022 | Naane Varuvean | – | – | – | No figures |
| 2022 | Thiruchitrambalam | – | ₹115 cr | – | No figures |
| 2022 | The Gray Man | ₹1,660 cr | ₹3.8 cr | 0.00x | Flop |
| 2022 | Maaran | – | – | – | No figures |
| 2021 | Atrangi Re | – | – | – | No figures |
What the numbers say
Dhanush’s filmography is huge — 121 films since a 2002 debut, with 62 in the last decade — but the scorecard is much thinner. Only seven recent films in the table above carry the full budget-and-gross figures needed for a verdict. That set records one hit, two averages and four flops: a 14% hit rate and a 1.04 average multiple. No listed film reaches blockbuster status.
For several other recent titles in the table above — Atrangi Re, Maaran, Naane Varuvean, Vaathi/Sir and the Nilavuku En Mel Ennadi Kobam entries — Wikipedia carries no budget figure and no verdict, so they are not part of the hit-to-flop count. Thiruchitrambalam reports a 115.0 crore gross, but with no budget on Wikipedia it cannot be scored as a multiple.
The hits and the misses
The lone hit is Tere Ishk Mein — an 85.0 crore budget against a 148.5 crore gross gives a 1.75 multiple. The biggest grosser is Raayan: 160.0 crore on a 100.0 crore budget. That 1.6 multiple is the best Dhanush-led return by gross in the set, but it still lands as an average verdict.
The weakest return is The Gray Man. Wikipedia records a 1660.0 crore budget and a 3.77 crore gross, a 0.0 multiple and a flop. That is a global-production outlier, not a straight Tamil-film comparison, but it drags the average down sharply. Among the recent Dhanush-led films, Kara is the weakest: a 100.0 crore budget returns 50.0 crore gross, a 0.5 multiple.
The trend
The recent five average a 1.17 multiple, against 0.73 for the five before. That is the clearest positive in the data: the actor is moving from a deeply loss-making average to something closer to break-even. But the improvement is from a weak base, and the recent run still closes with Kuberaa at 0.96, Idli Kadai at 1.02 and Kara at 0.5.
A 1.17 average is not a safety margin. It means the slate as a whole is recovering little more than its budgets, and one hit — Tere Ishk Mein — is doing the heavy lifting.
What it means for the next film and the industry
For Dhanush, the next outing has a simple benchmark: repeat the Tere Ishk Mein 1.75 multiple, not the Kara 0.5. The record shows he can deliver a hit, but not on volume. With a 14% hit rate and a 1.04 average multiple, every greenlit budget now has to be justified film by film.
For the industry, the reading is that total filmography and total gross can flatter a star. Dhanush has 121 films and 736.6 crore in total reported gross across the recent slate, but the multiple is the harsher number. Tamil star-rank comparisons should quote that, not just the gross.
Figures: Dhanush filmography on Wikipedia and each film’s page, read on 26 September 2026.
