List of highest-grossing Bollywood films
The Hindi film industry, popularly christened as Bollywood, is one of the largest film production centers in the world. The first feature film produced in India was the Dadasaheb Phalke directed silent black-and-white film Raja Harishchandra, which was released in 1913.[1] With time, the industry grew in size and film production numbers throughout the 1920s and 1930s. With expansion, newer technologies were introduced including the use of sound and later color. Alam Ara was India's first sound film, while Kisan Kanya was India's first color film (incidentally, both are directed by the same person).[2] Introduction of these technologies significantly shaped the style of Indian film-making, as the advent of sound popularized musicals and song-and-dance sequences, making them an integral part of Indian films. However, the industry faced problems during the Great Depression, as well as the on-going independence movements and international wars.[3] The 1940s, 1950s and 1960s are often considered the "golden years" of Bollywood. Films received much critical appreciation not only in India but around the world as well. Several notable cinematic figures such as Guru Dutt, Raj Kapoor and Bimal Roy were active during these years and were instrumental in shaping the industry and moving it forward. Roy's Mother India received universal acclaim and became India's first feature film to be nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film; till date, it is one of only three Bollywood films to share that honor. Other Bollywood films from the era were screened in major film festivals across the world, and some of them won major prizes as well. The era also saw an emergence of the Parallel cinema movement, a movement that gained momentum later on after going into a "hibernation" phase.
Beginning with the 1940s, Bollywood films saw major commercial success too, and several box office milestones were breached over time. As the popularity of cinema spread, theatrical revenue kept increasing, slowly at first and then more rapidly. The 1943 Gyan Mukherjee-directed Kismet became the first Bollywood film to cross the 
1 crore mark. Subsequently, more films breached the 1 crore mark until Shree 420 breached the 2 crore mark for the first time. It was during the 1960s and particularly 1970s that Bollywood films achieved regular commercial success, and the amount of revenue earned multiplied manifold throughout this period, and continued to do so later on as well; Sholay earned triple the amount that the previous record-holder Mughal-e-Azam earned, while Hum Aapke Hain Kaun...! more than quadrupled Sholay's record. Post the "dark phase" of the 1980s, business increased tremendously as is visible from the major success of films like Hum Aapke Hain Kaun...!, Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge and Gadar: Ek Prem Katha.
Initially, the success of a film was measured more on its box office longevity than its revenue. However, due to increasing competition from television and the threat of piracy, and later the advent of alternative media, longevity of films decreased drastically and revenue became the focus of success. The revenue-earning pattern has become increasingly front-loaded over the years, and now most films depend only on first weekend/first week revenue to decide the fate of a film, a trend that has received widespread criticism from industry experts. This trend was further intensified after the multiplex boom in India following liberalization, which caused ticket prices to increase and theatrical screening scope to increase. Since 2008, Bollywood films have started breaching the 100 crore mark consistently; Ghajini was the first Bollywood film to cross the mark. This marked a turning point in Bollywood, and since then multiple films have breached that mark. During this time, the release size and marketing efforts have increased rapidly to the extent that films can achieve the 100 crore mark in a single week, and the single-day full-capacity revenue can be 30 crore. In addition, franchises have witnessed increasing popularity and several highly popular franchises such as Dhoom and Golmaal saw great success at the box office; additionally, each sequel has earned more than the previous film, making franchises a lucrative business proposal.
Below is a set of lists which track the records for highest-grossing films in India (by net figures, i.e. after tax reduction), highest opening days, highest opening weeks and also other specific lists. Since box office figures in India are not tracked strictly, figures from Box Office India are utilized; only extracts of lists are visible here for some of the lists. The original list showed the Top 30 films according to net revenue earned in India. Background color indicates films playing 23 February 2012 in theaters around the world
Contents |
Highest-grossing Bollywood films in India
The following is a non-definitive list of the all-time highest-grossing Bollywood films, by nominal value. Since this list is not adjusted for inflation, it tends to favour films in more recent years, with all but two of the films in the top 30 being released after 2000. Films released prior to 1994 do not appear in the list because inflation, population size and ticket purchasing trends make direct comparisons inaccurate. Figures are given in Indian rupees.[4][5]
| Rank | Movie | Year | Studio(s) | Nett Gross |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 3 Idiots | 2009 | Vinod Chopra Productions | 202,57,00,000 |
| 3 | Dabangg | 2010 | Arbaaz Khan Productions | 140,10,00,000 |
| 6 | Ra.One | 2011 | Red Chillies Entertainment | 114,78,00,000 |
| 10 | Singham | 2011 | Reliance Entertainment | 97,87,00,000 |
Biggest opening gross
Opening day nett gross
The following is an extract of the list of the top 10 Bollywood films, which have had the biggest opening day gross.[6]
| Rank | Movie | Year | Studio(s) | Opening Day Nett Gross |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Agneepath | 2012 | Dharma Productions | 21,76,00,000 |
| 3 | Ra.One | 2011 | Red Chillies Entertainment | 14,76,00,000 |
| 6 | Ready | 2011 | Sohail Khan Productions | 13,33,00,000 |
| 10 | Kites | 2010 | Reliance BIG Pictures | 10,08,00,000 |
Opening weekend nett gross
The following is an extract of the list of the top 10 Bollywood films, which have had the biggest opening weekend nett gross.[7]
| Rank | Movie | Year | Studio(s) | Opening Weekend Nett Gross |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ra.One | 2011 | Red Chillies Entertainment | 52,93,00,000 |
| 3 | Dabangg | 2010 | Arbaaz Khan Productions | 48,82,00,000 |
| 6 | Ready | 2011 | Sohail Khan Productions | 42,23,00,000 |
| 10 | Rajneeti | 2010 | UTV Motion Pictures | 33,62,00,000 |
Opening week nett gross
The following is an extract of the list of the top 10 Bollywood films which have had the biggest opening week gross.[8]
| Rank | Movie | Year | Studio(s) | Opening Week Nett Gross |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bodyguard | 2011 | Reliance Entertainment | 100,15,00,000 |
| 3 | Agneepath | 2012 | Dharma Productions | 81,77,00,000 |
| 6 | Don 2 | 2011 | Reliance Entertainment | 70,96,00,000 |
| 10 | Rajneeti | 2010 | UTV Motion Pictures | 53,91,00,000 |
Highest-grossing films by month
The following is a list of the highest-grossing films by month according to BoxOffice India.com.
| Month | Movie | Year | Nett collections | Distributor | Director |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | Agneepath | 2012 | 116,56,00,000 |
Dharma Productions | Karan Malhotra |
| February | My Name Is Khan | 2010 | 72,74,00,000 |
Fox Searchlight Pictures | Karan Johar |
| March | Race | 2008 | 61,80,00,000 |
Tips Films UTV Motion Pictures |
Abbas Mustan |
| April | Housefull | 2010 | 72,07,00,000 |
Nadiadwala Grandson Entertainment | Sajid Khan |
| May | Fanaa | 2006 | 52,00,00,000 |
Yash Raj Films | Kunal Kohli |
| June | Ready | 2011 | 121,26,00,000 |
Sohail Khan Productions T - Series |
Anees Bazmee |
| July | Singham | 2011 | 97,87,00,000 |
Reliance Entertainment | Rohit Shetty |
| August | Bodyguard | 2011 | 140,95,00,000 |
Reliance Entertainment | Siddique |
| September | Dabangg | 2010 | 140,10,00,000 |
Arbaaz Khan Productions | Abhinav Kashyap |
| October | Ra.One | 2011 | 114,78,00,000 |
Eros International Red Chillies Entertainment |
Anubhav Sinha |
| November | Golmaal 3 | 2010 | 107,43,00,000 |
Shree Ashtavinayak Cine Vision Ltd | Rohit Shetty |
| December | 3 Idiots | 2009 | 202,57,00,000 |
Vinod Chopra Productions | Rajkumar Hirani |
Highest-grossing Bollywood films throughout history
The following is a list of Bollywood films, which have had the highest theatrical nett grosses (up to that time), according to BoxOffice India.com.
| Year | Movie | Record Held | Studio(s) | Nett Gross |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1943 | Kismet | 6 years | Bombay Talkies | 1,00,00,000 |
| 1949 | Barsaat | 2 years | R.K. Films | 1,10,00,000 |
| 1951 | Awaara | 1 year | R.K. Films | 1,25,00,000 |
| 1952 | Aan | 3 years | Mehboob Productions | 1,50,00,000 |
| 1955 | Shree 420 | 2 years | R.K. Films | 2,00,00,000 |
| 1957 | Mother India | 3 years | Mehboob Productions | 4,00,00,000 |
| 1960 | Mughal-e-Azam | 15 years | Sterling Investment | 5,50,00,000 |
| 1975 | Sholay | 19 years | G.P. Sippy Productions | 15,00,00,000 |
| 1994 | Hum Aapke Hain Kaun...! | 7 years | Rajshri Productions | 69,75,00,000 |
| 2001 | Gadar: Ek Prem Katha | 5 years | Zee Telefilms | 73,75,00,000 |
| 2006 | Dhoom 2 | 2 years | Yash Raj Films | 80,25,00,000 |
| 2008 | Ghajini | 1 year | Reliance Entertainment Geetha Arts |
114,67,00,000 |
| 2009 | 3 Idiots | Current holder | Vinod Chopra Productions | 202,57,00,000 |
References
- ^ "Raja Harishchandra (1913)". The New York Times. http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/249829/Raja-Harishchandra/overview. Retrieved February 22, 2012.
- ^ "TALKING IMAGES". The Sunday tribune. March 26, 2006. http://www.tribuneindia.com/2006/20060326/spectrum/main1.htm. Retrieved February 22, 2012.
- ^ Gulzar; Nihalani, Govind; Chatterji, Saibal (2003). Encyclopaedia of Hindi Cinema. Encyclopaedia Britannica (India) Pvt Ltd.. pp. 136–137. ISBN 8179910660. http://books.google.com/books?id=8y8vN9A14nkC.
- ^ "Top Lifetime Nett Grossers ALL TIME". BoxOffice India.com. http://www.boxofficeindia.com/arounddetail.php?page=shownews&articleid=3935&nCat=. Retrieved 2012-01-19.
- ^ "Agneepath Has Good Second Weekend". BoxOffice India.com. http://www.boxofficeindia.com/boxnewsdetail.php?page=shownews&articleid=4008&nCat=. Retrieved 2012-02-06.
- ^ "Top Opening Days All Time". BoxOffice India.com. http://www.boxofficeindia.com/arounddetail.php?page=shownews&articleid=4006&nCat=. Retrieved 2012-02-06.
- ^ "Top Opening Weekends AGNEEPATH 5th". BoxOffice India.com. http://www.boxofficeindia.com/npages.php?page=shownews&articleid=3982&nCat=. Retrieved 2012-01-30.
- ^ "Top Opening Weeks All Time UPDATED". BoxOfficeIndia.com. http://www.boxofficeindia.com/arounddetail.php?page=shownews&articleid=4015&nCat=. Retrieved 2012-02-08.
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