All Time Blockbusters in Bollywood

All Time Blockbuster is a loosely used term in Bollywood today. Even a film like Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani has been declared as an All Time grosser even though the film wasn’t close to as big a hit as films like 3 Idiots, Ghajini or Dabangg.

Below, we have a full list of 17 ‘All Time Blockbusters’ in the history of the Hindi Film Industry. Chennai Express might soon join the list if the film manages to collect more than 210 crores.

  • Kismet (1943) – 1 crore
  • Rattan (1944) – 1 crore
  • Mother India (1957) – 4 crore
  • Mughal-e-Azam (1960) – 5.5 crore
  • Sholay (1975) – 15 crore
  • Jai Santoshi Maa (1975) – 5 crore
  • Ram Teri Ganga Maili (1985) – 9.5 crore
  • Maine Pyar Kiya (1989) – 14 crore
  • Aankhen (1993) – 14 crore
  • Hum Aapke Hain Kaun (1994) – 70 crore
  • Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge (1995) – 61 crore
  • Raja Hindustani (1996) – 48 crore
  • Kuch Kuch Hota Hai – 45.5 crore
  • Gadar Ek Prem Katha (2001)  - 76 crore
  • Ghajini (2008) – 116 crore
  • 3 Idiots (2009) – 202 crore
  • Dabangg (2010) – 143 crore
  • Chennai Express (2013) – 227 crore

Coming to the actors with 2 or more All Time Blockbusters to their credit, its Salman Khan right at the top once again with 4 all time grossers to his credit (3 if his extended special appearance in Kuch Kuch Hota Hai is not taken into consideration). Salman is followed by Aamir Khan who has three films to his credit.

Shahrukh Khan is the only other actor with 2 or more All Time Blockbusters (3 if Chennai Express continues its good run). Surprisingly, Amitabh Bachchan, one of the biggest stars in history, doesn’t have a single solo All-Time grosser to his credit (Sholay was a two-hero film).

  • Salman Khan – 4 Films (Maine Pyaar Kiya, Hum Aapke Hain Kaun, Kuch Kuch Hota Hai and Dabangg)
  • Aamir Khan – 3 Films (Raja Hindustani, Ghajini and 3 Idiots)
  • Shahrukh Khan – 3 Films (Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge, Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, Chennai Express)
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73 Comments

  • @indicine my bad- cant believe it collected just 1 crore. :-(

    Shame as it was a masterful portrayal by the Living Legend and true boxoffice king, Mr Dilip Kumar.

  • KKHH is SRK ATBB. nothing to do with cameo role of Salman.

    Salman 3
    Aamir 3
    SRK 3 (with Chennai Express incl eventually after 3rd week.)

    exactly why 3 khans are considered superstars, the top tier.

  • the biggest superstar in the history of indian cinema “SALMAN KHAN”.. ATBB-4, BB-6.. need we say more.. many more to follow :)

  • hey Joy

    yes it was a mistake..
    I missed #dhoom2 (81cr) in the record holder movies list.

    but you are wrong #RNBDJ (86cr)-2008 was not record holder any time…

    listen I am explaining…
    #RNBDJ was released on 12dec,2008.. after 2 weeks
    #Gajini was released on 25dec,2008
    that time highest record was of #Dhoom2(81cr)

    you know even releasing 2 weeks late #Gajini had crossed the 81cr barrier before #RNBDJ.

    For more details here are the weekly earnings of both the movies #RNBDJ and #Gajini:

    #RNBDJ
    42.19cr + 24.56cr + 9.28cr + 4.91cr + 3.44cr + 2.40cr = 86.78 cr

    #Gajini
    64.28cr + 26.50cr + 14.13cr + 5.21cr + 2.69cr + 1.86cr = 114.67 cr

    So #RNBDJ had crossed #Dhoom2(80.7cr) just after 4 weeks.
    4 weeks collection of #RNBDJ = 81cr

    and two week collection of #Gajini = 90.75cr

    so obviously #Gajini crossed the record of #Dhoom2 first and become the record holder movie.
    And finally set the new record 115cr, which was broken by #3Idiots(202cr) next year in 2009.
    And the record of #3Idiots is still unbroken since last 4 years.
    Hope #ChennaiExpress(168cr in 10 days) will break.
    Which in turn will be broken by #Krrish3 and #Dhoom3 in the end of this year.

    now agree na ki #RNBDJ was never the record holder..
    Record holders since last 25 years:
    #HAHK (1994) – 70cr
    #Gadar (2001) – 76cr
    #Dhoom2 (2006) – 80cr
    #Gajini (2008) – 115cr
    #ThreeIdiot (2009) – 202cr

    #??????? (????) – ???cr

  • hey soroop

    #Gadar(76cr) broke the record of #HAHK(70cr) by 6cr

    and #Gajini(115cr) broke the record of #Dhoom2(80cr) by huge 35cr margin and you think #Gajini has not done an unimaginable business..!!!
    .
    #Gajini(2008) – 115cr was undoubtedly ATBB

  • @srk fans- u cannot deny the fact the impact salman khan created in KKHH.. yes he was in a special appearance but his presence took the film into another level.. have u ever heard anybody getting the best supporting actor award for a speacial appearance??? quite unheard of.. such was his impact.. his presence hugely contributed to KKHH being an ATBB.. i still remember the hysteria when salman khan made his entry in the movie.. his scenes were greeted with loud cheers, even more than srk i must say..

  • If Big B is not considered to be listed for Sholay, then why Salman Khan is considered for KKHH just for Special Appearance…….
    Salman should have only 3 to his list

  • Agree with the list except gajini and dabaang. This is joke to called these movies as atbb. Every Tom dick Harry has surpassed lifetime collection of these 2 movies in span of 2-3 years. Ex ready bodyguard ra1 kind of movie crossed gajini in less than 3 years If u analize other blockbuster including 3 idiots none of movie come close to that movies in terms of collections and popularity for min 3-4 years. For example kkhh which did 45-48 cr in 1998 remained big grosser till 2006 (exept 2001 gadar which is again truly atbb). In this 8 (post 2001) years there r only few movies touched 40 cr mark and that is only bcos of increased in ticket rate nd multiplex. HAHK 65cr and DDLJ 61 cr was so huge that these collections have broken after 12 years (again exception of gadar) that is only bcos of growing multiplex nd high ticket rate.

  • Indicine u r wrong this time… How could kuch kuch hota be consider as Salman Khan movie ….?? ?
    Nd chennai express… Is also been a block buster.. Nd dil to pagal he ???

  • @indicine why u guys deleting my comments.. what i said is a fact..if KKHH can be considered as ATBB for salman.. u can say there is an ATBB clearly exists there in the kitty of madavan and sharman joshi for 3idiots….salman was just a sub actor in that movie

  • @ Indicine: My question to you. If you call a film ATBB on the basis of profitability, how do you ascertain cost. As no producers will give true figure?

    Moreover, in early years, the tendency with the producers were to give lower revenue, to evade tax, as lot of black money were involved. Now a days, the figures of Cost of Productions and Revenue are more transparent, so more BB and ATBB.

    As far as Amitabh is considered, the cost of productions of his films were higher, as compared to other stars, so might be his films were called hits / superhits, if same figure would have been achived by other stars, it might have been called blockbusters / ATBB [case, Jai Santoshi Maa earning 5 crores]. I have heard from 1974 to 1981, he starred in 21 films and out of them 17 were hits / super hits [that was his prime age].

  • This article clearly shows that an actor’s super stardom can not b judged only by atbbs…becos amitabh sir don’t have a single solo atbb and amir khan has 3 atbb but zero BB…..while hrithik has 6 blockbusters.. (knph,kmg,kkkg,krish,dhhom2,agnipath)
    SO DoNt underestimate the POWER OF GREEK GOD/SHEHENSHAH of Bollywood……
    and yes Dhoom 2 which hold all time record for 2 years shud b considered as atbb…but hrithik sir is interested in quality not in numbers…….numbers follow him….wait for k3 bang bang shudhi these r not only sure shot atbb but will also win the hearts of audience…

  • @sumitsuman. Multiplex came after 2001 I assume. Therefore dhoom 2 beating gadar in 2006 is not a bid deal in any manner. And gajini beating gadar in 2009 by 45 crs is not huge in any manner. If its about lifetime record then Gadar was broken by Dhoom 2 and dhoom 2 was broken by RDBJ (OSO fell 1 crore short of Dhoom 2) and RDBJ was broken by Gajini and atlast 3 idiots broke Gajini’s record by huge margin and it expands the business market too (genuine ATBB) in a big way. If we talk abt ur Salman Khan then he was never involved in lifetime record apart from MPK and HAHK thanks to Suraj Baratajya and lately he was involved in opening day and weekend record thanks to Eid festival

  • For A BB , Production house, Director and story matters and in SRK case its already there “Actor with no risk and counting his success on others shoulders. ” RA one is ………

    Salmans films, with YRF is Ek tha tiger “The biggest grosser of YRF” which they couldn’t achieved through SRK or AB

    CE was Released on 3500 screens and records were broken, now K3 and Mental will be released on 3500+ screens and we will have new records ” No big deal”

  • @soroop

    See 5-6 replies before, I have explained that RNBDJ was never a record holder movie.

    the list of RECORD HOLDERS from 1950:

    #MotherIndia (1957) – 4cr
    .
    #MugalEAajam (1960) – 5.5cr — margin=1.5cr
    .
    #Sholey (1975) – 15cr ———- margin=9.5cr
    .
    #HAHK (1994) – 70cr ———–margin=55cr
    .
    #Gadar (2001) – 76cr ———– margin=6cr
    .
    #Dhoom2 (2006) – 81cr ——– margin=5cr
    .
    #Gajini (2008) – 115cr ———- margin=34cr
    .
    #ThreeIdiot (2009) – 202cr —– margin=87cr

    haha.. #Gajini created history by a huge margin of 34cr
    #Gajini’s collection is one and half times the collection of #Dhoom2
    #Gajini was All Time Blockbuster
    .
    and don’t say ki this and that movies got BB or ATBB due to producer and director.. This is applicable to all movies Yash Chopra, Karan Johar and all…
    Here we are only talking about hero’s achievements.
    .
    One more thing
    The founder of 100cr club – Aamir Khan
    The founder of 200cr club – Aamir Khan
    and most probably also the founder of 300cr club will be Aamir Khan.

    also
    Top 10 collection of Bollywood movies:
    1) Three Idiot (2009) – 202cr
    2) Ek Tha Tiger (2012) – 186cr
    3) YJHD (2013) – 179cr
    4) Chennai Express (2013) – 171cr(11days)
    5) Dabangg2 (2012) – 150cr
    6) Bodyguard (2011) – 141cr
    7) Dabangg (2010) – 140cr
    8) Rowdy Rathore (2012) – 134cr
    9) Ready (2011) – 122cr
    10) Houseful 2 (2012) – 121cr
    .
    Salman has FIVE movies out of top 10 list.
    Currently it is dream for Shahrukh.
    .
    Movies which can make place in top10 list:
    #Satyagrah
    #Boss
    #Krrish3
    #Dhoom3
    #Mental/JaiHo
    #BangBang
    #Kick
    #ActionJacktion
    #HappyNewYear
    #Sudhhi
    #Peekay

  • Amitabh Bachchan may not have had ATBBs as solo hero but he has most number of hits and phenomenal success spread across decades.

    Salman Khan owns this list and most of his films are one man show. He deserves more recognition than he is given!

    SRK has 2 ATBBs, but most consistency in giving successful films.

    Aamir Khan – first Khan to debut, last Khan to give ATBB. Raja Hindustani saved him in 90s! Career truly took off in 2006. Franchise and multistarrer films, with inflation and holiday dates boosted his career.

    Gadar was truly a juggernaut and that too without any marketing or support from media or critics. They tried hard to prop up Lagaan. But Gadar simply tore apart the box office. Lagaan did well but no comparison to Gadar at box office.

    Dharmendra and Sunny Deol rarely get the due they deserve.

    I don’t know why people call Rajesh Khanna the first superstar? It should be Ashok Kumar who gave industry its first ATBB!

    I think Govinda and David Dhawan also deserve more recognition. They gave string of hits in 90s. Aankhen was huge. Then BMCM also became hit despite clash with a colossus like KKHH.

    People applaud Vidya for giving woman oriented hits now. But Nargis ji was original gamechanger who gave ATBB and our first Oscar nominated film Mother India to the industry.

    Amazed at business of Sholay at that time! It took nearly 2 decades to beat its business! It is really BAAP of all hits!

    Thanks for list Indicine. Interesting stuff.

  • @sumit suman housefull2 did 112 cr according to Boi if u r referring for same source for ce. Y r u manipulating nos

  • @Sumit suman. Aamir is indeed the founder of 100 crs club and 200 crs club and he is the founder of 90 crs club for suspense thriller too. But the sad part is he didn’t found even single blockbuster yet in his career!.

  • dhoom 3 not more than 160cr its my challange for all amir khan fans.
    krish 3 not more than 175 cr its my challange for hritik fans
    mental and kick not more than 165 cr its my challange for sallu fans
    if chennai express record will broke that film will be happy new year……15th august 2014

  • @soroop

    Biggest collection in India – #ThreeIdiot (202cr)
    .
    Biggest collection in overseas – #ThreeIdiot (25m $)
    .
    Aamir have already 3 ATBB
    #RajaHindustani
    #Gajini
    #ThreeIdiot

    who cares about BB we have ATBB
    and will have total 5 ATBB after #Dhoom3 and #Peekay
    .
    this was business and quality wise..
    .
    AAMIR gave us many standard cult movies:
    #ThreeIdiot
    #Talaash
    #RangDeBasanti
    #Fanaa
    #TaareZameenPar
    #Gajini
    #Lagaan
    #DilChahtaHai
    #Sarfarosh
    #Rangeela
    #JoJeetaWahiSikandar
    #RajaHindustani
    #HumHainRaahiPyaarKe
    #Earth1947
    #AndaazApnaApna
    #PeepliLive
    #DhobiGhat
    #DelhiBelly
    #JaaneTuYaJaaneNa
    #Dil
    #QyamatSeQyamatTak
    #DilHaiKiMaantaNhi

    there are only two bollywood movies in the IMDB top250 movies list.
    #TaareZameenPar
    #ThreeIdiot
    both are of Aamir khan.
    .
    .
    There are only three movies of India have been nominated for best film in foreign language at Academy Award (Oscar)
    #MotherIndia(1957)
    #SalaamBombay
    #Lagaan(2001)-Producer & Actor Aamir Khan
    .
    .
    On the occasion of 100 years of Bollywood, the great actor Nasiruddin Shah said ” Of this time only Aamir’s work will be remembered after 50-100 years”.
    .
    .
    We are happy for Aamir Khan and we enjoy his works and films.

  • @Indicine, what abt RDB of aamir n team.. I m sure RDB z d favorite movie of more then 90% peoples of this country..n also 99% youth’s favorite movie..
    First ever movie in bolywud which received 5 stars in critics, 5 stars in music, 5stars in cinematography, 5stars in casting n more n more..
    .
    I m posting dis comment only becoz i follow indicine frm d last 15months and read thousands of articles bt never found RDB name even not in indicine’s examples..
    .
    Only bcoz RDB ws nt a huge grosser n ws nt breaked or acheived a single record in tickek window…
    Crap n non sense movies like gadar were showed there in almost evry comment of dis post..

  • Boxofficeindia.Com Trade
    Network
    .
    Chennai Express had a good
    second weekend of around
    22.50 crore nett and took its
    business to over 168 crore nett.
    The film grossed 5.50 crore on
    Friday, 7.50 crore nett on
    Saturday and 9.50 on Sunday.
    The collections are the fourth
    highest ever for the second
    weekend after Dabangg and Three Idiots and Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani. The film had already become the highest grosser ever in Nizam/Andhra and Tamil Nadu/Kerala after seven days and over the weekend Mysore was added to the list and soon it will also become the highest grosser ever in West Bengal.
    The business on Sunday was on par with the new release Once Upon A Time In Mumbaai
    Dobaara which is excellent
    considering that Once Upon A
    Time In Mumbai Dobara is a big film. So far Chennai Express grossed 171.20 crores including paid previews in 11 days.

  • agree suroop that Aamir have no BB but who cares, you should think abt srk as he is still on the road to achive his first ever ATBB neat andclean wise, its only Aamir whose has 2 ATBB can’t be challenged by any body both Ghajini & 3I record brocker movies,
    srk DDLJ and KKHH wasn’t highest grosser till date, same as MPK,Dabangg 7 Raja Hindustani as all these were not highest grosser but declared ATBB.
    I think the best criteria to called a movie ATBB when if it pass the highest grossing movie till that time.

    and the big answer to you as Aamir focused on quality rather than Quantity or masala movies but when he came to fully masala zone he had given two ATBB Ghajini & Raja Hindustani. and again after these movies he not gone again to same zoner after Raja hindustani he given Ishq,Ghulam,earth 1947 kinda movies while after Ghajini we have 3I & Talaash both different kind of cinema.

    and those who said thas even his bad phase srk given ATBB and highest grosser can easily look on the table and tell me (aprat of ce in case it surpass 3I) which of the srk movie become all time highest grosser till that time neither ddlj nor KKHH were highest grosser both below than HAHK while srk had so called good phase that time.

    i m not saying that ATBB is the only margin for a star success but even BB is not only margin of any actor success or achievement

    @deepu Aamir is the one who having highest no of great movies in his kitty and we Aamir fans not want anything more from him only haters want something to degrade him. & only actor having 2 back to back ATBB’s till now, so please take care your srk he needs most even after super success of CE.
    Aamir rocks Haters shocks………..

  • Dhoom 2 deserves to call ATBB as it was record holder in 2006,
    and if films like Heroes,Phir Milenge can be termed as salman’s flop movies in which he has merely 10-15 min roles, so why KKHH can’t be called Salman’s ATBB as he has almost 25-30 min role in the movie and srk fans best award FILMFARE given Best Supporting actor in 1999 for this movie to Salman so he truly have that movie under his belt same like Madhvan & Sharman having one ATBB 3I as they both also nominated for supporting actor category in Filmfare award 2010. hope you get answer poor srkians……

  • @sumit suman. Ur list shows aamir khan is over rated star and actor. How come fanaa, rangeela etc etc etc become special film, what is the speciality in those films. Dhobigat and earth is art film but bokwaas films. 3 idiot, gajini, raja hindustani is a masala films like DDLJ and KKHH. Apart from Lagaan, DCH and RDB, all his moves are avg. Aamir had 2 superhits and 0 blockbuster and 3 Atbb in his entire career. Tell me any film where his acting been praised like it did for srk in Swadesh and CDI. Aamir is the most over rated actor in bollywood history.

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