Not Ghajini or Sholay, this 80s movie was first to earn Rs 100 crore worldwide
&imwidth=600&imheight=450&format=webp&quality=medium "Not Ghajini or Sholay, this 80s movie was first to earn Rs 100 crore worldwide")
Still from Mithun Chakraborty’s 1982 movie Disco Dancer Photograph: (X)
Directed by Babbar Subhash, Disco Dancer tells the story of Anil, a street performer, who went on to become a huge disco star. As per the reports, the movie earned Rs 6.2 crore in India and Rs 94 crore in the soviet union, taking the total collection of the movie to Rs 100 crore approx.
Rs 100 crore club may be common now, but it was a big deal two decades ago. Nowadays, movies achieve this milestone in the blink of an eye. In fact, the Rs 500 crore club is now considered the new benchmark. But if I asked you to name the first movie to earn Rs 100 crore, you might say Aamir Khan’s Ghajini. The 2008 film was a massive hit and was believed to be among the first to reach this milestone.
However, what if we told you that this isn’t entirely true?
First film to earn Rs 100 crore worldwide
Decades before Khan’s film, it is said that Mithun Chakraborty’s 1982 movie Disco Dancer was actually the first Indian film to cross the Rs 100 crore mark.
Released in 1982, Disco Dancer was a super hit and completely changed Chakraborty’s career trajectory. The movie not only made him a household name across India but also turned him into a global star.
Years after the movie's release, it was revealed in Chakraborty’s biography, Mithun Chakraborty: The Dada of Bollywood, that his film in the 1980s first shattered this record, as it earned moolah both in India and worldwide.
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In the book, journalist-turned-filmmaker Ram Kamal Mukherjee wrote that the movie was a major hit in countries like Russia and China and even shattered the record of Ramesh Sippy's Sholay.
"The film introduced India to the world of disco and the audience just went berserk. The film was a roaring success overseas too, including Central Asia, Eastern Europe, Russia, China, the Middle East, Turkey, and West and East Africa," Mukherjee wrote in the book.
"In fact, Disco Dancer was the first Indian film to gross Rs 100 crore worldwide. The music of the movie was a huge hit and won many an accolade. Disco Dancer also saw the birth of the famous Mithun-Bappi Lahiri collaboration and the two worked together in an astonishing number of films, many of which turned out to be superhits over the years including Dance Dance (1987), Guru (1989), Prem Pratigya (1989), Dalaal (1993), and numerous others," he wrote.
More about Disco Dancer
Directed by Babbar Subhash, Disco Dancer tells the story of Anil, a street performer, who went on to become a huge disco star. As per the reports, the movie earned Rs 6.2 crore in India and Rs 94 crore in the soviet union, taking the total collection of the movie to Rs 100 crore approx.
