2014

Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham : The International Phenomenon

Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham was released during Eid 2001 and it smashed all opening records across the world for an Indian movie.

In UK it actually featured among the top three openers of the week including all Hollywood releases.

Despite skepticism in the trade as to whether it will work outside big centres, the film opened to around 7 crore nett collections on its first weekend (a figure which only 5-6 films till then had managed in the whole week) in India with the week finishing around 14.38 crore nett.

The domestic opening week collections were 70% higher than the previous record and never before had opening records been smashed by such big margins, infact even till now opening records have never been smashed by such huge margins.

In Delhi city its opening week collections were touching 2.5 crore nett while the previous record was just 1.10 crore nett and it was five years later that any film got close to 2 crore nett in Delhi city again.

Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham also set record new records for second and third week business by grossing 10.50 crore nett and 8 crore nett respectively.

It went on to be The Highest Grossing Indian Film Of All Time Worldwide beating Gadar Ek Prem Katha which released 6 months before.

Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham also found a place in Top Three Domestic Grossers of All Time and the second biggest Grosser of 2001.

In the Overseas it was a sensation and is still probably the biggest hit ever in the Overseas market even though films today are crossing $30-40 million while Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham did around $9 million in 2001. The big difference is print count, Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham release on around 125 prints while today films are releasing on 8-9 times more prints and in many more territories. Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham is one of the true Worldwide All Time Blockbusters of Hindi cinema. For the Overseas market it is what Sholay is to the Domestic market.

2001 , All Time Grosser , Amitabh Bachchan , Gadar Ek Prem Katha , Hrithik Roshan , Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham , Kajol , Overseas , Overseas Blockbuster , Record Grosser , Shahrukh Khan

Jai Ho Ends Salman Khan Run - Second Best Of All Time

The second best run ever by a male lead in terms of consecutive major hits in the history of Hindi came to an end with Jai Ho. Prior to Jai Ho Salman Khan had five back to back blockbusters in a run lasting around 30 months.

This run is only bettered by a run by Rajesh Khanna which lasted 15 months from October 69 till February 71 which consisted of 9 consecutive major hits including six blockbuster/super hit films There have been other runs where male leads have given 5-6 consecutive hits but these two runs stand out in magnitude.

The run by Rajesh Khanna was phenomenal and the Salman Khan run is also extraordinary because its unlikely that five hits like this will be given by anybody in a span of 30 months again. It could happen again but not in a short 30 month span. It can also be said that it is easier for big stars to give big hits today as it has a lot to do with initial while 40 years back a film had to run 25 weeks in around 8-10 centres to be a big hit so the initial factor was less.

The law of averages also say these things come to an end although distributors thought differently as they had pegged Jai Ho as the sixth consecutive blockbuster of Salman Khan going by what they paid but it was not to be. The Rajesh Khanna run was ended by a film called Mehboob Ki Mehndi which was his most expensive film till that date and the Salman Khan run came to an end with Jai Ho which fetched the highest prices of any Salman Khan starrer till date.