From 100 Crore-Grossing Movies to Bygone Era’s Silver and Golden Jubilee Hits: A look at Rare Feats in Indian Cinema

MUMBAI—With “Golmaal Again” becoming the biggest Diwali grosser of all time by collecting Rs. 200 crore-plus (the 2015 “Prem Ratan Dhan Payo” was said to have collected higher but again, today’s trade puts the actual figure lesser than this film!), we get another record holder in showbiz.

Let us also have a look at some fascinating records set by different celebrities in filmland.

Last year, after completing a trilogy of 100 crore-plus grossers with “Rustom” (after “Airlift” and “Housefull 3”), Akshay Kumar became the only star to have got a hat-trick of such movies within a single calendar year.

On the other hand, within a span of 12 months (a year), Salman Khan has achieved this feat twice – with “Dabangg,” “Ready” and “Bodyguard” between September 2010 and August 2011, and with “Bajrangi Bhaijaan,” “Prem Ratan Dhan” and “Sultan” between August 2015 and July 2016.

Salman Khan now holds the record for not just the maximum 100-crore grossing films but also the highest consecutive score of hits among any actor in Hindi cinema. His last 12 films in the lead have all fallen into the 100 crore-plus categories. Until the 12th film, “Tubelight” (2017) that still crossed 120 crore but flopped, he had had no flops since “Veer” in early 2010.

Two of these films, “Bajrangi…” and “Sultan” rank among the four highest-grossing Hindi films of all time globally (along with Aamir Khan’s “PK” and “Dangal”). And these two films along with “Prem Ratan…” and “Kick” are Salman Khan’s four consecutive 200-crore-plus grossing movies – another record.

However, Aamir Khan has done a hat-trick of 250 crore-plus grossing films, with “Dhoom:3,” “PK” and “Dangal.” His record is incredible. He has had the first 100-crore film (“Ghajini” in 2008), the first film to cross 200 (“3 Idiots” in 2009), 250 (“Dhoom:3” in 2013), 300 (“PK” in 2014) and 350 (“Dangal” in 2016) crore. The last film, also Khan’s production, remains Hindi cinema’s highest grossing film ever. All these figures are about nett box office collections only in India.

Yes, the highest grossing film shown in Hindi remains “Babubali 2: The Conclusion” (2017), originally in Telugu, which netted Rs. 511 crore for the Hindi version alone. Across all versions, it was India’s first film to cross over Rs. 1000 crore (across Tamil and Telugu as well) and has made about Rs. 1700 crore worldwide. Its cost was another record for an Indian film – Rs. 250 crore.

However, what is interesting that its run in China alone has led to the global figures of “Dangal” smoothly overtake “Bahubali 2” by a decent margin. Called “Shuai Jiao Baba” (Let’s Wrestle, Dad) in China, “Dangal” has now made more than Rs. 2000 crore globally, with well over half that figure coming from China alone!

However, it is a Salman Khan film that has topped business in 10 of the 18 years that have passed since his debut – in 1989 (“Maine Pyar Kiya”), 1991 (“Saajan”), 1994 (“Hum Aapke Hain Koun!...”), 1998 (“Kuch Kuch Hota Hai” in a special cameo), 1999 (“Biwi No.1”), 2005 (“No Entry”), consecutively from 2010 to 2012 (“Dabangg,” “Bodyguard” and “Ek Tha Tiger”) and also in 2015 (Bajrangi Bhaijaan”)! Of course, there is the 11th film too, with him in a minuscule cameo – “Om Shanti Om” in 2007!

Records are meant to be set and then broken and reset. Hindi cinema was not always about 100 crore-grossing films (which include those films whose costing crossed 100 crore and were thus technically losers or break-even propositions despite the volume of Indian nett box-office business done). It was earlier about Silver Jubilees (those that ran for 25 weeks at least in one theatre in the country, preferably in regular shows, not just matinees), Golden Jubilees (50 weeks, ditto) and hits and blockbusters. The meeting-point of the two eras was “3 Idiots” (2009), which netted over 200 crore in India and was also the last Golden Jubilee. So here’s looking at the records of a bygone era.

In 1978, Amitabh Bachchan annexed all the four biggest hits of that year – “Muqaddar Ka Sikander,” “Don,” “Trishul” and “Kasme Vaade,” in that order. In those days, hits were listed and graded according to the ratio of the return of investment on them, not just theatrical earnings, as there was no other source of revenue until they were shown on television a year or two later.

Between “Zanjeer” (1973) and “Sharaabi” (1984), he had twenty 50-week runners of which “Sholay,” the greatest hit in the history of Indian cinema, ran for 250 weeks (150 in regular shows). “Roti Kapada Aur Makaan,” “Deewaar” and “Trishul” ran for 100 weeks and “Amar Akbar Anthony” for 75 weeks! There was a minimum one Golden Jubilee every year for him in this phase! He also had another record: that since 1971 (“Anand” and “Pyar Ki Kahani”) he had at least one hit every single year till 1986’s “Aakhree Raasta.” In 1987, Bachchan had no release at all.

For two consecutive years, Hema Malini never had a flop! Between 1974 and 1975, she had a dozen lead releases, and 11 were Silver Jubilee hits, and one (“Dulhan”) did average business. The blockbusters among them were “Dost,” “Amir Garib,” “Haath Ki Safai,” “Premnagar,” “Pratiggya,” “Sanyasi” and “Sholay.”

Madhuri Dixit-Nene now has the highest score of mega-hits since she struck it big with the biggest hit of 1988, “Tezaab.” Since then, she starred in the biggest hits of 1990 (“Dil”), 1991(“Saajan”), 1992 (“Beta”), thus becoming the only star, male or female, to have the greatest hits in 3 consecutive years in those days. When she followed it up with 1994’s biggest grosser (“Hum Aapke Hain Koun!...:), we find that her films ruled in 5 of the 15 years of her peak stardom.

Rishi Kapoor, the sole survivor of Bachchan’s and later star-sons’ onslaught for two decades, had 12 Golden Jubilees between 1973 and 1992, a score next only to Bachchan. Six of these were either as solo lead (“Bobby,” “Sargam,” “Nagina,” “Bol Radha Bol”) or as the more popular/senior hero (“Hum Kisise Kum Naheen,” “Deewana”). The solo lead factor was thus even higher than Bachchan’s score!

Manmohan Desai never directed a single flop between “Aa Gale Lag Jaa” in 1973 and “Mard” in 1985. He thus directed 12 successful movies in a row, with “Desh Premee” being the only average grosser among them. The films, other than the four that are mentioned in the next paragraph, were “Roti,” “Suhaag,” “Naseeb” and “Coolie.”

Manmohan Desai also annexed four of the five biggest money-spinners of 1977, in order of success, “Amar Akbar Anthony,” “Dharam-Veer,” “Parvarish” and “Chacha Bhatija”! The third position was held by Nasir Husain’s “Hum Kisise Kum Naheen.”

What’s more? All the four films were lost-and-found dramas co-written by Prayag Raj, edited by Kamalakar, had music by Laxmikant-Pyarelal and three common playback singers – Lata Mangeshkar, Mohammed Rafi and Kishore Kumar! Each of these films had a hit male-bonding song. Three of the films starred Neetu Singh as one of the heroines, Jeevan as one of the villains and were co-written by Kader Khan. Anand Bakshi wrote lyrics for three of the films!

Yash Chopra remains the only director to work with a two-hero male combination in as many as five films – Shashi Kapoor and Amitabh Bachchan worked in his “Deewaar,” “Kabhi Kabhie,” “Trishul,” “Kaala Patthar” and “Silsila.”

Between his debut film “Tumsa Nahin Dekha” in 1957 to “Hum Kisise Kum Naheen” 20 years later, Nasir Husain also never directed a film that lost money. “Dil Deke Dekho,” “Jab Pyar Kisise Hota Hai,” “Phir Wohi Dil Laya Hoon,” “Baharon Ke Sapne,” “Pyar Ka Mausam,” “Caravan” and “Yaadon Ki Baaraat” were his other films. In this span, he also produced the successful “Teesri Manzil.” After the 1973 “Yaadon Ki Baraat,” he had said in an interview, “Wait! I will give you a flop!” That happened only in 1982 with “Zamaane Ko Dikhaana Hai.”

Of about 80 films in a record-breaking career of 66 years (from 1940 to 2005!), Naushad scored music for 15 Golden Jubilees. This is a record of almost twenty percent (16!) of his total films!

Laxmikant-Pyarelal gave Hindi cinema its first Stereophonic Sound album (V. Shantaram’s “Jal Bin Machhli Nritya Bin Bijli”) in 1971, the first song in 4-track Stereo (“Om Shanti Om” in “Karz”) in 1980, and the first individual film score on a CD (in “Ram Lakhan”) in 1989. They scored music for four of the five biggest hits of 1977(see under Manmohan Desai) and again in 1983 (“Coolie,” “Hero,” “Andhaa Kaanoon” and “Avtaar” with R.D. Burman’s “Betaab” in the fourth position) and the top three hits of 1986 (“Nagina,” “Karma” and “Swarag Se Sunder”).

L-P also lead in the highest number of Golden Jubilees – 30, in a career whose peak lasted for 25 years. Four of these films (“Do Raaste,” “Jeevan Mrityu,” “Roti Kapada Aur Makaan” and “Hero”) ran for 100 weeks.

Nadeem-Shravan scored music for 11 Golden Jubilees from 1990 to 1997. This was the highest score in the 1990s. Big and small, they won 13 awards for their music in “Aashiqui”!

Anand Bakshi and Sameer led many records through their associations with L-P and N-S respectively. Rajkumar Hirani, after four films, has yet to give a plain hit. All his directorials (“Munna Bhai MBBS,” “Lage Raho Munna Bhai,” “3 Idiots,” “PK”) have been blockbusters.

Finally, Salim-Javed as writers never had a flop between their first joint film (“Haathi Mere Saathi”) in 1971 and “Sholay” (in 1975) – a list comprising ten films. The eight others were “Andaz,” “Seeta Aur Geeta,” “Zanjeer,” “Yaadon Ki Baraat,” “Haath Ki Safai,” “Majboor,” “Aakhri Daao” and “Deewaar.”