Is the 500 Crore Club the new ‘standard’ for a film’s success?

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Now this is a topic on which even reputed trade analysts may not be able to provide forthright or honest answers. We have already seen how the 100-Crore Club, however popular at one time, was never truly an index of success, forget super-hit status. All it showed was that the theatrical collections (real or claimed) were in excess of that figure.

It neither showed the admission rate factor (whether rates would be inordinately hiked in the first few days or weeks), the production budget or its footfalls that truly decided a film’s box-office status. Major flops, that in olden days would have been termed so, came in this category: Thugs of Hindostan and RA. One leading a long list of unsuccessful fare that included Raees, Dabangg 3, Tubelight, Shivaay, Ae Dil Hai Mushkil, Bang Bang! and more. Not only did these films lose out on ROI (return on their investments), but also in the footfalls.

Then we saw the slightly more credible 200-crore club, credible because most films here did have merit and theatrical audiences. 3 Idiots, Kick, Prem Ratan Dhan Paayo, Good Newzz, Golmaal Again, URI—The Surgical Strike, Kabir Singh, Dhoom:3, The Kashmir Files, RRR (Hindi again), The Kerala Story and more came into this list, with Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani and Ek Tha Tiger nearing the mark and missing it by inches, so to speak.

After this was born the 300 Crore Club: PK began this list that went on to include Bajrangi Bhaijaan, Dangal, Sultan, Tiger Zinda Hai, Padmaavat, Sanju and War. This time, again, there was some skepticism about figure inflation!

Ever since the 100-Crore Club became a trend, sensible media-persons usually took the figures with a pinch of salt, assuming that the exaggeration was 10 to even 20 percent in some cases. In the olden days, after all, fake 25-weekers and more used to be quite common. And now, with Google and social media coming in, it was and will always be even easier to perpetuate flops (even old ones) as hits or blockbusters!

So the 300-crore club too was viewed with disbelief, which applied especially to the last three films mentioned above. This was also because Bahubali2—The Conclusion (2017), originally in Telugu, had crossed a genuine Rs. 510 crore collection in Hindi alone.

Alongside, this began a “prestige” war: Bahubali2—The Conclusion was said to be beaten by Aamir Khan’s Dangal—Indian collection Rs. 387+ crore—in overall global collections, which are always counted in gross (collections including tax rather than net (after tax et al) and touted in the vicinity of Rs. 2000 crore!  And then came the announcement that another Aamir Khan production, Secret Superstar, which had not done well but was touted to have been a hit at home, had collected humongous figures. Interestingly, both films are said to have done this spectacular business in China!!

But all that was pre-pandemic! After that was over, the highest collections were of the dubbed Kannada film, KGF2, which crossed (obviously we talk about the official Hindi figures) an incredible Rs. 434-plus crore!

With two South films leading the list, I guess Mumbai had no option but to match up! And so, Yash Raj Films’ Pathaan, admittedly a major hit, was said to have made a whopping Rs. 500 crore-plus. Two inside sources swore to me that YRF never manipulates any figures and this was genuine, but another source stated that it was actually Shah Rukh Khan who had bankrolled the film, which, the source said, explained the inflated figures! I really cannot vouch for these nuggets either as fact or as fiction.

And then came Gadar 2, creating hysteria like the earlier Gadar—Ek Prem Katha. Reportedly, it created the same if not higher, craze as the earlier 2001 film (as it was now a brand), and thanks to higher ticket rates today vis-à-vis 22 years back, it also shot past the Rs. 500 crore mark! Here, again, there were whispers that reaching this figure was a compulsion in the ego trip between Shah Rukh Khan and YRF on the one hand and Sunny Deol on the other.

A mere four weeks after Gadar 2 came Shah Rukh Khan’s home production, Jawan, which now officially tops the 2023 list. Seeming to indicate and vindicate my source’s stance, this official SRK home production became Hindi cinema’s first 600-Crore “blockbuster”, beating not just Gadar 2 (Rs. 525 cr.) but also Pathaan (Rs. 543 cr.).

(Note that in 2007, SRK’s home production Om Shanti Om had been the biggest hit, while YRF’s Chak De! India was relegated to second place. But then, OSO was a mass-entertainer, and a Diwali release, and atrociously-inflated tickets were not so much a norm then, because the multiplexes were not anywhere as big or as unscrupulous as they are now!

T-Series’ Animal came next in 2023, and beat all except Jawan (Rs. 556 cr.). And so was fabricated the new magic potion: a Rs. 500 crore film!

With Stree 2, the stage was set. Decimating the superb Khel Khel Mein and the pathetic Vedaa on August 15, it also rode on a terrific brand—its predecessor, Stree (2018) and also some ingenious follow-ups in the production company, Maddock Films’ Horror Comedy Universe. These included Bhediya (2022) and Munjya, which had decimated all original Hindi competition in 2024’s first six months.

Stree 2’s whopper opening of Rs. 55.40 crore nationally on August 15, adding about Rs. 9.4 crore on paid previews on August 14, with more than Rs. 72 crore as worldwide gross, put it comfortably ahead of the hitherto-highest opening day collections record of Thugs Of Hindostan (2018). The Amitabh Bachchan-Aamir Khan-YRF film had opened at Rs. 52.25 crore in the same year that the first Stree opened at a mere Rs. 6.82 crore!

But now, as Stree 2 sweeps past a reported Rs. 460 crore nett nationally, there is good reason to believe that the Rs. 500 crore barrier will be broken again: for the fifth time by an original Hindi film and the sixth time overall! In addition, it is the only star-less movie to reach this ‘distinction’ at the box-office, which makes it unique!

I can only add one point: the site bollymoviereviews.com shows how a daily discrepancy is there between the ‘trade figure’ for collections and the producer’s released figure for the same!

Until then, savor all the hype and hoopla that is going on—since 2023. Welcome then to the 500 crore club!