1. Kismet (1943):
Record held for 6 years. Net gross Rs. 1,00,00,000.
Written and directed by Gyan Mukherjee and produced by Bombay Talkies, during war period, while it was in a succession battle between Devika Rani and Sashadhar Mukherjee after owner Himanshu Rai’s death. The film is one of the biggest hits in the history of Hindi cinema.
The plot is basically a crime drama which stars Ashok Kumar as a pickpocket and trying to be con man who ends up falling in love, with Mumtaz Shanti. He is wrongfully jailed while trying to help his sweetheart but Kismet comes to his rescue.
Memorable hit songs “Door Hato O Duniyawalon Hindustan Humaara hai“, “Ghar Ghar Mein Diwali” and “Dheere Dheere Aa sees“.
Its net gross came to Rs.10 million in 1943, which in today’s date is equivalent of Rs.632 million.
2. Barsaat (1949):
Record held for 2 years. Net gross Rs. 1,10,00,000.
Directed by Raj Kapoor. The film stars the famous duo of Kapoor and Nargis as well as Prem Nath.
The film revolves around two love stories. Pran (Kapoor), and Reshma (Nargis) and Gopal (Prem Nath) and Neela (Nimmi). Two friends with opposite personalities, the rich but sensitive Pran and the womanizing Gopal both have affairs with two mountain girls while holidaying in the vale of Kashmir. While Pran and Reshma’s love is true and reciprocated, Gopal is a womanising villain, who disregards the faithful Neela (Nimmi) and condemns her to wait faithfully for his return with the barsaat (rainy season). Many plot intrigues follow through with Pran and Reshma facing many trials on the path to true love, including parental opposition, accidents and an attempted forced marriage of Reshma to an uncouth fisherman. The couple are finally reunited.
Gopal on the other hand finally becomes a reformed character and rushes to claim the ever faithful Neela who has been pining away, only to arrive to find his true love dead. The film ends with Gopal lighting Neela’s funeral pyre as the rains finally come…..
3. Awaara (1951):
Record held for 1 year. Net gross Rs. 1,25,00,000.
Directed and produced by Raj Kapoor who also plays the leading role. His real-life father Prithviraj Kapoor stars as his on-screen father Judge Raghunath. Kapoor’s youngest real-life brother Shashi Kapoor plays the younger version of his character. Prithiviraj’s father Dewan Bashwanath Kapoor also played a cameo role in his only film appearance.
aj lives a life of poverty as a result of being estranged from his vindictive father, a wealthy district judge (played by Kapoor’s real-life fatherPrithviraj Kapoor). Judge Raghunath threw Raj’s mother out of the house years earlier on suspicion of infidelity. As a child, Raj befriends Rita in school, but Raj is removed from the school rolls while trying to maintain a job and Rita moves to another city. Even though they are separated, Rita remains in Raj’s thoughts.
On the streets, Raj turns to a life of petty crime and finds a father-figure in Jagga (K. N. Singh). It is only many years later that Raj realizes that Jagga is the man responsible for his mother’s estrangement. While planning a bank robbery with his friends, they realize they need anautomobile. He snatches a woman’s purse after she steps out of the car, but finds no keys, and pretends to pursue the thief to release suspicion from himself. After his elaborate act, he returns the purse to the woman, who is soon revealed to be Rita. Rita is now the warden of the Judge, who suspects that Raj is no good and eventually restricts Rita from seeing him. As soon as Raj realizes that Jagga is responsible for his mother’s misery, he kills Jagga in a fit of rage and then attempts to kill the Judge. Due to these actions, Raj is brought to his own father’s court, where Rita serves as his lawyer. In the end, Raj is sentenced to 3 years in prison for his crime, but Rita promises to wait for him.
“Awaaara” was entered into the 1953 Cannes Film Festival, where it was nominated for the Grand Prize of the Festival.
The song “Awara Hoon”, sung by Mukesh with lyrics by Shailendra was one of the biggest hits of all time.
4. Aan(1951):
Record held for 3 years. Net gross Rs. 1,50,00,
000.
Produced and directed by the legendary Mehboob Khan. It stars Dilip Kumar, Premnath, Nimmi and marked the debut of Nadira who replaced the original choice which was actress Nargis.
A Royal Indian family consists of the Emperor Maharaj (Murad, his brother Shamsher Singh (Premnath) and sister Rajshree (Nadira). A poor villager named Jai Tilak (Dilip Kumar) enters a contest to tame Princess Rajshree’s horse and after he is successful Shamsher challenges him to a game of fencing. Jai is declared the winner of the fight after much dispute and Shamsher is enraged at losing to a poor villager. Jai then falls in love with Rajshree and tries numerous times to woo her but the princess’s arrogance prevents her from revealing her true feelings.
Shamsher becomes even more enraged when the Emperor Maharaj reveals that Shamsher is not the heir to his throne after his death and that he plans to free India from monarchy and turn to democracy.
Shamsher then plans to gain control of the kingdom by killing the Maharajah on the night before he is due to travel to England for a medical procedure. However he is unsuccessful after the Maharajah escapes an attempt on his life by Shamsher’s henchmen and disguises himself as a servant in his own palace.
Shamsher then sets his eyes on Mangala (Nimmi) who is a village girl and childhood friend of Jai but her love is not reciprocated as he is only in love with princess Rajshree. After Mangala is kidnapped by Shamsher Singh who plans to keep her prisoner in his palace and molest her, Mangala takes a bottle of poison and dies. Jai kills Shamsher in revenge and provokes Princess Rajshree to launch an attack on his village to avenge her brother’s death. Jai manages to kidnap Rajshree and sets out to gain her love by taking her into his village and forcing her to live as a peasant girl. Just when Rajshree begins to realise her feelings for Jai, Shamsher Singh who was presumed dead returns to get his revenge against Jai. What will happen to Jai and Rajshree? and Will Shamsher gain control of the Kingdom?
5. Shri 420 (1955):
Record held for 2 years, Net gross Rs. 2,00,00,000.
Directed, produced by and starring Raj Kapoor.
Shree 420 is the tale of a country boy, Raj (Raj Kapoor), from Allahabad, who travels to the big city, Mumbai, by walking, to earn a living. He falls in love with the poor but virtuous Vidya (Nargis), but is soon seduced by the riches of a freewheeling and unethical lifestyle presented to him by an unscrupulous and dishonest businessman, Seth Sonachand Dharmaanand (Nemo) and the sultry temptress Maya (Nadira). He eventually becomes a confidence trickster, or “420,” who even cheats in card gambling. Vidya tried hard to make Raj a good man but fails. Ultimately, Raj forsakes his greedy and dishonest ways, realizes his mistakes, and changes his ways to become a good and hardworking person for the rest of his life. This is a classic Raj Kapoor movie.
Memorable hits include “Mera Juta Hai Japani”, “Mudh Mudh Ke Na Dekh”, “O Janewale”, “Pyaar Huwa Ikraar6. Mother India (1957):
Record held by 3 years. Net gross Rs. 4,00,00,000.
directed by Mehboob Khan and starring Nargis, Sunil Dutt,Rajendra Kumar and Raj Kumar. The film is a remake of Mehboob Khan’s earlier film Aurat (1940).
The film begins with the finishing of a water canal to the village set in the present. Radha (Nargis), as the ‘mother’ of the village is asked to open the canal and remembers back to her past when she was newly married.
The wedding between Radha and Shamu (Raaj Kumar) was paid for by Radha’s mother-in-law who raised a loan from the moneylender, Sukhilala. This event starts the spiral of poverty and hardship which Radha endures. The conditions of the loan are disputed but the village elders decide in favour of the moneylender after which Shamu and Radha are forced to pay three quarters of their crop as interest on the loan of 500 rupees.
Whilst trying to bring more of their land into use to alleviate their poverty, Shamu’s arms are crushed by a boulder. He is ashamed of his helplessness and is humiliated by others in the village, deciding that he is no use to his family he leaves and does not return. Soon after this, Radha’s mother-in-law dies.
Radha continues to work in the fields with her children and gives birth again. Sukhilala offers to help alleviate her poverty in return for Radha marrying him, but she refuses to “sell herself”. A storm sweeps through the village destroying the harvest and killing Radha’s youngest child – the villagers start to migrate but decide to stay and rebuild on the urging of Radha.
The film then skips forward several years to when Radha’s two surviving children, Birju (Sunil Dutt) and Ramu (Rajendra Kumar), are young men. Birju, embittered by the exactions of Sukhilala since he was a child takes out his frustrations by pestering the village girls, especially Sukhilala’s daughter. Ramu, by contrast, has a calmer temper and is married soon after. He becomes a father but his wife is soon absorbed into the cycle of poverty in the family.
Birju’s anger finally becomes dangerous and, after being provoked, attacks Sukhilala and his daughter lashing out at his family. He is chased out of the village and becomes a bandit. On the day of the wedding of Sukhilala’s daughter, Birju returns to take his revenge. He kills Sukhilala and takes his daughter – but Radha, who had promised that Birju would not do harm, shoots Birju who dies in her arms. The film ends with her opening of the canal and reddish water flowing into the fields.
The film was India’s first submission for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film in 1958, and was chosen as one of the five nominations for the category. The film came close to winning the award, but eventually lost to Frederico Fellini’s Nights of Cabiria by a single vote.
7. Mughal-e-Azam (1960):
Record held for 15 years. Net Gross Rs. 5,50,00,000.
Produced and directed by K. Asif. With its lavish production, K. Asif’s magnum opus took nine years and Rs 10.5 million to finish.
The film re-tells a popular Indian tale, which was previously filmed as Loves of a Mughal Prince (1928) and Anarkali (1953). It is loosely based on an episode in the life of the Mughal Prince Salim, who went on to become the Emperor Jahangir (r. 1608 – 1627). In the movie, the great conqueror Akbar (played by Prithviraj Kapoor) and his Rajput wife, Jodha Bai (played by Durga Khote) have a son – the weak and pleasure-loving Salim – played by Dilip Kumar. Salim falls in love with Anarkali (Madhubala), a court-dancer. He wants to marry her, he arranges secret meetings for Anarkali and himself for the sake of love. however the jealous Bahaar, a fellow dancer, who is of a higher rank, wants the crown of India and she attempted to try and make the prince love her so later on she may ascend to queenship. She exposes the love between the prince and the dancer, Salim pleads for Anarkali’s hand, but his father objects and throws Anarkali into prison. Despite imprisonment, Anarkali refuses to reject Salim.
Salim rebels against his father, is defeated in battle, and is sentenced to death. Anarkali pleads for his life in exchange for her own, and is condemned to be walled up alive. However, it is revealed that Akbar owed a favor to Anarkali’s mother, since she informed him of the birth of his son. Anarkali’s mother takes advantage of this, and begs for her daughter’s life. The emperor relents, and arranges for Anarkali’s secret escape into exile. Unfortunately, it is still announced that Anarkali was killed, and Salim is heartbroken.
Most tales of Salim and Anarkali end with the death of the latter, even though the movie version is slightly more optimistic. However, Salim is still left to believe that Anarkali is dead and the lovers are separated for the rest of their lives.
Memorable hit songs include “Pyar Kiya To Darna Kya”, “Mohabbat Ki Jhooti“, “Humen Kash Tumse Mohabbat” and many more……
The song “Ae Mohabbat Zindabad” had singer Mohammed Rafi with a chorus of 100 singers.
The song “Pyar Kiya To Darna Kiya” has an unusual history to it: it cost Rs. 1 crore at a time when a film would be made for less than a million; it was written and re-written 105 times by the lyricist, Shakeel Badayuni, before the music director, Naushad, could approve of it; it was shot in the renowned Sheesh Mahal.
8. Sholay (1975):
Record held for 19 years. Net gross Rs. 15,00,00,000.
Directed by Ramesh Sippy. It is the biggest hit in the history of Bollywood, India’s Hindi film industry, it stars Dharmendra, Sanjeev Kumar, Amitabh Bachchan, Hema Malini,Jaya Bhaduri and Amjad Khan.
Sholay is the highest grossing film of all time in Indian cinema. The movie has earned Rs. 768,81,00,000, equivalent to US$ 160 million, after adjusting for inflation.
The movie speaks for itself and needs no further information.
9. Hum Aapke Hain Kaun (1995):
Record held for 7 years. Net gross Rs. 65,00,00,000.
Directed bySooraj Barjatya, and produced by Rajshri Productions. Hum Aapke Hain Kaun is considered to be one of the most successful hindi films ever.
The film is a story of two Indian families and the relationships between them, celebrating Indian culture using modern production values. It is noted for its lavish depictions of North Indian wedding ceremonies. Hum Aapke Hain Kaun stars Salman Khan andMadhuri Dixit, two of the top Bollywood stars of the 1990s.
Memorable tracks include “Wah Wah Ramji”, “Hum Aapke Hain Koun“, “Lo Chali Main” and many more….
10. Gadar-Ek Prem Katha (2001):
Record held for 5 years. Net gross Rs. 70,00,00,000.
Produced by Nitin Keni and Directed by Anil Sharma, stars Amrish Puri, Sunny Deol and Amisha Patel.
Set in 1947 during the Partition of India, the film tells the story of a truck driver, Tara Singh (Sunny Deol), a Sikh, who falls in love with aMuslim girl, Sakeena (Amisha Patel), belonging to an aristocratic family.
The story begins with sikh and hindus being attacked by muslims in Pakistan when trying to return to India on a train. To get revenge the sikhs and hindus react with doing the similar thing. During the Hindu-Muslim riots that erupted soon after the Partition, Tara saves Sakina from a murderous mob chasing her as she failed to get onto the train by being pushed and lost in the crowd. As the mob want to rape her and then murder her, Tara Singh defends Sakina and then converts her to Sikhism in order to protect her.
Sakeena and Tara get married and become parents of a baby boy. Their life seems like a bed of roses, till Sakena lays her hands on an old newspaper that has a photograph of her father (Amrish Puri), who she believes had been killed during the riots that took place during the partition.
The father is now the Mayor of Lahore and when Sakeena calls him from the Pakistani Consulate in Delhi, he arranges to fly her to Lahore. But Tara and their son, who are supposed to accompany her to Lahore, are told at the last minute that their visa formalities have not been completed, which compels them to stay back on the Indian soil.This does not stop Tara. He and his son accompanied by a friend enter Pakistan illegaly by the border.There they find out that Sakina is getting married. They reach before the marriage can start and fight with her father. Tara wins her and they come back to India.
Memorable tracks include “Main Nikla Gaddi” and “Udja Kale Kawan”.
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