Box Office India Records

Pathaan has breached the £4 million mark in United Kingdom as it sits on around £4.3 million till date and there is a little more to come. This number was just unthinkable before the release of Pathaan as the biggest films were just getting over the £1 million.

It was believed within the UK market that if Shahrukh Khan delivered a good film then the records of Dhoom 3 and Bajrangi Bhaijaan should be in danger and maybe even the £3 million mark. The expectations should have been higher as films were crossing £2 million 15-20 years ago but the market was just not the same as as before.

United Kingdom has always been the main overseas market for Hindi films since the last ten years when it diminished. The circuit has a long history of Hindi releases since the 50's and it was in the mid 60's that releases became regular. Below is the evolution of the United Kingdom market for Hindi films from £100k to £4 million

£100k - Do Raaste (1970) - The first film to break the £100k as it did a share of 9 lakhs and a gross of a little over £100k in United Kingdom. The music of the film was a rage.

£250k - Purab Aur Paschim (1971) - A historic BLOCKBUSTER in UK which was a golden jubilee hit running for over 50 weeks in London. The shows were weekend shows only but this film had a show every week for 50 weeks. The share in United Kingdom was an insane 25 lakhs and the film grossed around £285k.

£500k and £1 million - The Purab Aur Paschim record was finally broken 23 years later with the release of Hum Aapke Hain Kaun (1994) which took the market to another level. The market had deteriorated due to video and it was this film that bought the audiences back again and Hindi films started to being consumed in cinemas as well rather than at home. Kum Aapke Hain Hain grossed £1.05 million in United Kingdom.

£1.5 million - After £1 million being breached it was not long that £1.5 million came along as Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge (1995) crossed  the mark the very next year. It was the landmark film which made Shahrukh Khan a huge megastar in United Kingdom and overseas. Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge grossed £1.58 million in United Kingdom.

£2 million - This mark was hit in 2001 with Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham (2001) which was a rage and remained the biggest grosser for 9 nine years and still probably has the highest number of footfalls for a Hindi film in the modern era in United Kingdom. Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham grossed £2.5 million

£3 and £4 million - Pathaan(2023) did the job on both these benchmarks as it takes the business in United Kingdom to another level. It is the biggest blockbuster in UK since Kabhi Khush Kabhie Gham and it is only Shahrukh Khan who can break this record and even target the next benchmark which is £5 million. Pathaan will probably end up with around £4.4 million mark.

Note - There were films like Bobby (1973), Roti Kapada Aur Makaan (1974) and Dharam Veer (1977) which went close or had a similar share to Purab Aur Paschim but the grosses were lower. It was all rentals then and post the insane success of Purab Aur Pashchim recovery became faster. Dharam Veer had a record initial of £50k in just 23 shows in 5 cities driven by the blockbuster music with two Mohammad Rafi solo's becoming a rage. Even in those days it was the music which could take a film to another level in UK and its pretty much the same today.

Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge was released twenty five years ago today and it became the second film in history to cross the 50 crore nett mark. The film did not beat the record of Hum Aapke Hain Kaun...! which released a year earlier but a 50 crore nett total was still an insane number because barring these two films the next best total was 25 crore nett.

The film made Shahrukh Khan a big star and it was this image in the film which was to catapult him into boxoffice superstardom a few years later with films like Dil To Pagal Hai and Kuch Kuch Hota Hai. A year earlier Hum Aapke Hain Kaun...! had a restricted release initially but Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge was a normal release for a love story barring Bihar where it had just a one cinema release only in Patna.

The film was a Diwali release and clashed with a Rishi Kapoor and Madhuri Dixit starrer and collected 55 lakhs nett apprx on day one while Yaraana was 46 lakhs nett. More than that Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge opened to 95% while Yaarana was 70%. There was also the Dev Anand film Gangster which released on the same day.

Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge is till today the biggest BLOCKBUSTER from the YRF banner with nearly 5 crore footfalls. The next best are Sultan, Dhoom 3 and Dil To Pagal Hai with around 3 crore. It also was the first film from YRF to score in the East as till that time all the YRF films be it their biggest HITS like Daag (1973), Kabhi Kabhie (1976) or Darr (1993) could never really perform in the Eastern circuit (West Bengal, Bihar, Assam and Odisha)

The film celebrated a silver jubilee run in around 50 theatres across the country and in Mumbai city and Delhi city the collections were pretty much similar to Hum Aapke Hain Kaun...! with 13 crore nett coming from Mumbai and 5.50 crore nett coming from Delhi city. In Overseas it created history by collected almost $5 million and this was at a time when $500k was regarded as a huge total though obviously things changed post Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge.