Box Office India Records

Crew is the third highest opening ever as far as female lead driven films go only behind Veere Di Wedding and Gangubai Kathiawadi though final numbers can take it above Gangubai Kathaiwadi also. It is a holiday which has pushed the film to the levels of Gangubai Kathiawadi but even without that it would have been in the top ten.

The top ten list is dominated by films of Kareena Kapoor and Alia Bhatt who are probably the biggest female stars of the past two decades or so. There is also Heroine (Kareena Kapoor) sitting on 11th place. Crew is an ensemble cast with other female stars like Tabu and Kriti Sanon so its a package but Kareena Kapoor is the main driving force as far as box office goes. There is only one double digit film and that is also a Kareena Kapoor starrer Veere Di Wedding.

There have been five heroines in the Hindi film industry who would be in the all time great list and were undisputed in their times and they are Vyjayanthimala, Mumtaz, Hema Malini, Sridevi and Madhuri Dixit and post this opening of Crew Kareena Kapoor joins the list. Maybe the level of success is not as high as the other names above but the longevity makes up for that. If the success ratio of Alia Bhatt keeps up over the next few years her name will also be up there with the all time greats making it seven heroines. 

The opening of the film is also boost the films featuring the heroines as central leads as today most of the top female stars want roles which makes it tough to get a top male star and a top female star in the same film catering to the mass audience as it will be male dominated.

The problem occurs that today films post pandemic have to cater to a wider audience to get an initial so have to be more commercial and cinematic which is tougher with females. It leads the heroines towards action and they play avenging angels or spy agents and basically become the heroes. But the fact remains that heroines become stars due to their songs and glamour but this all goes out of the window in an action / thriller film.

Obviously its action which is going to take these opening numbers higher but how do you do it retaining the essence of the Hindi film heroine with songs and glamour as presenting the heroine like a male will not cut it with the wider audience. The top ten opening days for heroine led films are as follows.

1. Veere Di Wedding - 10,42,00,000 (Kareena Kapoor)

2. Gangubai Kathiawadi - 9,62,00,000  (Alia Bhatt)

3. Crew - 9,50,00,000 apprx (Kareena Kapoor) (Holiday)

4. Dear Zindagi - 8,62,00,000 (Alia Bhatt)

5. Tanu Weds Manu Returns - 8,61,00,000 (Kangana Ranuat)

6. Mary Kom - 8,32,00,000 (Priyanka Chopra)

7. Ragini MMS 2 - 7,93,00,000 (Sunny Leone)

8. Manikarnika - Queen Of Jhansi - 7,66,00,000 (Kangana Ranaut)

9. Jism 2 - 7,46,00,000 (Sunny Leone)

10. Raazi - 7,33,00,000 (Alia Bhatt)