First Movies That Set Milestone Earnings At The Box Office
Posted On: 24 Jul 2023 | Last Updated : 24 Jul 2023 | Views : 675
The success or failure of a Bollywood movie is denoted by its box office collections. Every movie's success and failure are calculated upon the total cost of production plus marketing and promotion costs subtracted from the amount earned by the sales of tickets at cinema halls. The last few decades releases box office collections benchmark has become the ‘100 Crore’ club which was considered a huge landmark. With the rate of inflation going up and the cost of producing a film becoming more and more expensive the box office economics and equation have evolved over the years. Back in the 40s and 50s, a film doing 1 crore business was unimaginable but now box office collections have reached the Rs. 1000 crore club, domestically. Ever wondered which movies at the box office must have been the first to create such milestones? If not, then let’s list out the first movies to create milestone earnings from Rs. 1 crore to Rs. 500 crore at the domestic box office.
1. Kismet (1943) - First Movie To Earn 1 Crore At The Box Office
Director Gyan Mukherjee’s Kismet starring Ashok Kumar and Mumtaz Shanti was Indian cinema’s first movie to earn 1 crore at the box office. Kismet reportedly became the first film where the hero was seen playing an anti-hero role that many thought would go against the audience but fortunately, it worked in favour of it setting a trend for other actors to follow. The movie had set a record then for being the longest-running Bollywood movie in theatres which ran for 150 weeks (three years) collecting more than a crore at the box office which was unheard of those days.
2. Mughal-E-Azam (1960) - First Movie To Earn 5 Cr At The Box Office
Director K. Asif’s periodic magnum opus Mughal-E-Azam though was in the making for over a decade but shattered many box office records when released in 1960. Starring Prithviraj Kapoor, Dilip Kumar, Madhubala, and Durga Khote, Mughal-E-Azam broke the record of Kismet and went on to become the first Bollywood movie to earn 5 crores at the box office. The blockbuster costume drama ran for an unbelievable 150 weeks in theatres equalling the record set by Kismet.
3. Sholay (1975) - First Movie To Earn 10 Cr At The Box Office
G.P. Sippy’s evergreen blockbuster Sholay directed by Ramesh Sippy had an ensemble cast of Dharmendra, Amitabh Bachchan, Sanjeev Kumar, Hema Malini, Jaya Bhaduri, and Amjad Khan. The movie reportedly had a non-stop theatrical run of 5 years in Mumbai’s Minerva theatre which was replaced by Ramesh Sippy’s Shaan in 1980. The film which was claimed to earn more than 1 crore from each territory by its writers, Salim Khan and Javed Akhtar, was declared a flop initially but, slowly and steadily by word of mouth, the movie gained popularity and rewrote cinematic history. It became the first Indian film to earn 10 crores at the box office and ended up earning 15 crores as its lifetime box office collection.
4. Hum Aapke Hain Koun..! (1994) - First Movie To Earn 50 Cr At The Box Office
Sooraj Barjatya’s family marriage extravaganza Hum Aapke Hain Koun..! is considered another landmark film that will be remembered for getting audiences back to the theatres in hoards. HAHK starring Salman Khan and Madhuri Dixit hit the bullseye in an era when video cassettes, cable TV, and piracy were at their peak in the 90s. The film not just became the first Bollywood movie to earn 50 crores at the box office but also the highest all-time earner as it ran for a year in many theatres across India ending up with 72.47 crores as its lifetime collection.
5. Gadar: Ek Prem Katha (2001) - First Movie To Earn 75 Cr At The Box Office
Anil Sharma’s Gadar: Ek Prem Katha starring Sunny Deol, Ameesha Patel, and Amrish Puri was the first Bollywood film to cross the 75-crore mark at the box office. Despite facing controversies from all quarters and stiff competition from Aamir Khan’s Lagaan (released the same day), Gadar was a winner all the way breaking all the then-existing records to become the highest box office grosser of all-time by collecting a staggering 76.88 crores lifetime collection.
6. Ghajini (2008) - First Movie To Earn 100 Cr At The Box Office
A remake of Hollywood hit Memento (2000), director A.R. Murugadoss’s action thriller Ghajini starring Aamir Khan and Asin became the first Bollywood film to cross the 100-crore mark domestically. The film not just created the 100-crore club but also became that year’s highest-grossing Indian film at the box office beating the likes of Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi, Singh Is Kinng, Race, and Jodhaa Akbar. The film’s lifetime box office collection was a massive 114 crore.
7. 3 Idiots (2009) - First Movie To Earn 200 Cr At The Box Office
Adapted loosely from Chetan Bhagat's novel Five Point Someone, Rajkumar Hirani’s 3 Idiots starred Aamir Khan, R. Madhavan, Sharman Joshi, Kareena Kapoor, Omi Vaidya and Boman Irani in pivotal roles. The coming-of-age comedy-drama went on to beat Aamir Khan’s Ghajini released the previous year to become the first movie to earn 200 crores at the box office. The film not just became that year’s highest-grossing Indian film at the box office but gave Aamir Khan his second consecutive blockbuster with lifetime earnings of 202.95 Crores.
8. PK (2014) - First Movie To Earn 300 Cr At The Box Office
Rajkumar Hirani’s science-fiction comedy-drama PK released in 2014 created a hattrick of sorts for Aamir Khan by making him the first Bollywood actor to establish the 100-Crore, 200-Crore and 300-Crore clubs. Despite finding itself amid controversies pre-release as well as post-release, PK faced stiff competition at the box office that year with Kick, Happy New Year, Bang Bang!, and Singham Returns. Besides becoming the highest box office grosser of 2014, it had a lifetime collection of 340.80 crores.
9. Baahubali 2: The Conclusion (2017) - First Pan-Indian Movie To Earn 400 Cr & 500 Cr At The Box Office
S.S. Rajamouli’s sequel to Baahubali: The Beginning, Baahubali 2: The Conclusion (2017) may not have been the quintessential Bollywood movie but surely was the first Pan-Indian movie to enter the 400-crore club as well as the 500-crore club, subsequently. Originally made in Telugu language, Baahubali 2: The Conclusion took the Indian box office by storm setting several records. No one ever thought that a Hindi dubbed movie would end up becoming that year’s highest box office grosser earning 511 crores alone from its Hindi version.
10. Pathaan (2023) - First Bollywood Movie To Earn 400 Cr & 500 Cr At The Box Office
Shah Rukh Khan’s Pathaan revived the spirits of Bollywood in 2023 would not be an understatement. The Siddharth Anand action thriller that also starred Deepika Padukone, John Abraham, Salman Khan, Ashutosh Rana, and Dimple Kapadia technically became the first Hindi movie to earn 400 crores and 500 crores, subsequently at the box office. The unprecedented success of the film collected a massive 1050.30 crores, worldwide while its domestic box office earnings stood at a huge 543.05 crores.
