Box Office Milestones of the Hindi Film Industry

Readers here on Indicine are well aware of most box office records in recent times, but ever wondered which Hindi film was the first film to do 1 crore net business? Or for that matter the first film to collect 5 crore and 10 crore at the domestic box office?

Way back in the year 1943, Gyan Mukherjee’s Kismet was the first film to collect Rs 1 crore in its entire run at the box office. Starring Ashok Kumar, Mumtaz Shanti and Shah Nawaz, Kimset was produced by the first public limited film company Bombay Talkies.

Bollywood Blockbusters

Bollywood Blockbusters

More than 17 years later, K Asif’s iconic Mughal-e-azam was the first Hindi film to surpass the 5 crore mark. The historic costume drama featured Prithviraj Kapoor as Emperor Akbar, Dilip Kumar as Salim and Madhubala as Anarkali.

The industry had to wait for 15 more years, when Ramesh Sippy’s 1975 All-time-blockbuster Sholay became the first film to collect 10 crore. The Amitabh Bachchan – Dharmendra – Hema Malini – Jaya Bachchan starrer was also the first to 15 crore.

And then the ‘KHAN Domination’ began. Apart from Sunny Deol’s Gadar Ek Prem Katha which was first to 75 crores, every milestone was owned by either Salman Khan (25 and 50 crore), Aamir Khan (100, 125, 150, 175 and 200 crore) or Shahrukh Khan (225 crore).

Full list of all the major milestones. It goes without saying that all the below films are some of the biggest blockbusters in the history of Indian Cinema.

  • 1 crore – Kismet (1943)
  • 5 crore – Mughal-e-azam (1960)
  • 10 crore – Sholay (1975)
  • 25 crore – Hum Aapke Hain Kaun (1994)
  • 50 crore – Hum Aapke Hain Kaun (1994)
  • 75 crore – Gadar Ek Prem Katha (2001)
  • 100 crore – Ghajini (2008)
  • 125 crore – 3 Idiots (2009)
  • 150 crore – 3 Idiots (2009)
  • 175 crore – 3 Idiots (2009)
  • 200 crore – 3 Idiots (2009)
  • 225 crore – Chennai Express (2013)

Which film will be the first to 250, 275 and 300? It could well be Krrish 3 or Dhoom 3 this year. There is Mental, Happy New Year and Kick. If none of them manage to break into the the 250 crore club, Aamir Khan’s Peekay directed by Rajkumar Hirani is almost certain to achieve the next milestone!

Do post your thoughts in the comments section below.

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137 Comments

  • If Krrish3 does 250 cr, then Dhoom3 will have to cross 275 cr and all films releasing next year will have higher standards to beat! picture abhi baaqi hai!

  • k3 has to be after chartbusrter trailor video song raghupati raghav,,,,record just shatter ,,after long time we got ultimate dance number……all song are good and unique

  • @sachin11: Hey bro you forgot Talaash? Oh it was so bad that you are ashamed of mentioning it as aamir film, Lets blame Nawazuddin for its failure :P
    LOL @ ”Only aamir can give back to back ATBB”.

  • Yes your right sachin11 right but not exept 1 but 3 the other two are ghajni and hahk how can you say that hahk and ghajni are greatest but one thing that ce have these movies like 3i,ghajni,hahk,sholay didn,t and it,s orignility,3i script was taken from novel ghajni,hahk and sholay are remakes and i don,t know about others and if they are greatest exept ce then it shows srk,s star power even with everage it makes 227 crores and please don,t say it,s do to star power of deepika because movies work do to male star powers not director and other thing i want to say i know the topic is not about the point but i will say, these srk haters say that he works with big banners and aamir didn,t but this is not the problem of srk that big producers spend their money on him not aamir i know that srk have always work with big producers but you shouldn,t forget that srk movies budget is always bigger than all actors and other when ever these big producers movies tanked at box office then they work with srk and who was even dare to make a 50 crore budget movie in 2002 this aamir khan still didn,t have a movie budget is more than 50 crore ghajni was made at 50 but not more and i want to talk about two other points one that a stupid aamir fan say in site that aamir made a masala movie in 2000 and then in 2008 8years gape and srk made in 2007 and then in 2013 so 6 years so aamir is ahead, but he should not forget that mela was flope and om shanti om was blockbaster so srk is ahead and other point is that srk have rejected:3i,rdb,kaho na pyare hain,slumdog milionore due to kissing scenes not other things like risk remmember he have two rules i know that he have done kissing but it was other issue that you know and he have rejected other movies due to other problems not acting understand.

  • superb article indicine team.
    with due respect to all actors it clearly shows since 1990’s only khan dominated in the industry and except Sunny deol no other actor taken place in the milestone list.Aamir,Salman & srk r the best trio of recent time who combinely dominated the bollywood.
    salman has 2 milestone with 1 Film HAHK
    srk has 1 milestone with 1 film CE
    while the winner in the list is Aamir who has 5 milestone with 2 Films and both were his back to back atbb, he clearly dominates the list even having not so great fan following, so an eye opener to his haters.

    after khans only hritik which can take place in the list in recent time with K3 it might be collect 250cr+ but according to the list it clearly shows once a all time record made its not easy to surpass that one so its been a crucial task to any movie to pass ce 225 cr.
    after that D3,Kick has great chance to be in the list & HNY also have chances not bigger but still in the race.

    @shehanshah srk is not 1—100th in overseas if we count milestone in overseas Aamir’s 3 Idiots was a first movie to collect 50cr,75cr & 125cr. so srk ruled in overseas no doubt but he is not captured even 1-10th spot according to above mentioned milestones…..

  • why are you taking official figures inflated taran adarsh for srk film? just to include him in the list? CE figures are 207 at max (BOI).

  • hum apke hai kaun is wedding abum not a movie so its not a milestone
    ddlj is amilestone
    gadar is a movie full with lies so it is not a milestone
    ce is true milestone cause it breaks 3i back

  • Interesting idea this compilation but totally useless and completely biased toward later blockbusters.
    The main issue is this ranking does not take in account Rs changing value from 1947 to now.
    Compare the price of gold then to now for example or the exchange rate from mid 80s to now…
    So Kismet`s 1 Cr or is worth more than the 5 crore of Mughal-e-azam and even more than later blockbusters.
    Indicine, if you talk about revenues, please show us revenues in constant currencies. It will help in comparing apples with apples…

    Thanks for the idea and taking for the efforts and the research.

  • @aks
    u got it wrong, all those milestone were achieved by mnik & nt 3i. it was only after 2nd phase & release in china in late 2011 that 3i overtook. u can google if u want.

  • Even if you take (boi) of 3i then it will be in range of 188 to 192 understand priety Then ce will be first 1 to cross 200

  • Now a days producers are giving inflated numbers, earlier they used to give deflated nos. to reduce tax.

    Any way Cehhnai Express with 208 crores claiming to be 225 crores, the producers of K3 needs to score 215 crores to declare it as 250 crores and the producers of D3 needs to score 225 crores to claim it as 275 crores movies.

    HAHK in 1994 collected 70 crores and initially it was released in only 5-6 screens not 3000 + done now a days. Such was the craze of the film that ladies used to buy purple saris, the wedding used to be organised in HAHK fashion, the Indian family values were again reinforced.

  • @ indicine why you have not mentioned about hrithik . Dhoom 2 was the first movie to break the record of gadar after 5 years . It was the first bollywood movie to collect 80 crore . Dhoom 2 was the highest grosser of all time for 2 years .If you can mention sholay as the first movie to collect 10 and 15 crore then why you cannot mention dhoom 2 and 80 crore . This shows that you are biased towards khans . Please indicine grow up . Infact hrithik is the only actor to give a highest grosser of all time in the shortest period . Amitabh bachchan – 6 years . Although he was a star in sholay he was not the main lead . Because sanjeev kumar was nominated for best actor for sholay and amjad khan for best supporting actor . Salman khan – 6 years . Even hahk was an all time blockbuster madhuri dixit was the soul of the film . She even got the best actress award and salman was not even nominated . Aamir khan – 20 years . From qsqt to ghajini he took 20 years to get an all time grosser . Shah rukh khan – 21 years . From dil aashna hai to ce srk took 21 years to get an all time grosser . But hrithik took only 6 years to get an all time grosser . He was the star , main lead or in short the soul of the film . He even got the filmfare best actor award for his fabulous performance and was nominated for best actor in a negative role . please @ indicine kindly update what i have said with respect . Thank you .

  • @ niks who says wiki consider boi number check highest grosser bollywood movies and you see verdict there too ATBB
    @ sachin 11 don’t spoil sachin’s name

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