13 Indian Films with Highest Box Office Collections

To an Indian audience, cinema is not just a form of entertainment but an emotion! Fans celebrate every new release of their favorite stars or directors like big festivals. It is their passion and love for movies that drives huge profits to the cinema industry. From 100 days of success to 500+ crore gross profits, Indian movies are creating new records each year. Of the thousands of superhit Indian movies, 13 of them hold a special place for being the highest-grossing movies of all time.

Do you want to know what are these? Read along to find out which are these 13 Highest Grossing Movies in India with information about their profits, star cast, year of release and much more.

13 Highest Grossing Movies of All-Time in India:

This list includes pan-Indian movies with a combined box office collection at India and overseas:

1. Dangal (2016):

Dangal is a 2016 Bollywood movie that created history in Indian cinema by crossing the magic 500 Crore mark. With Aamir Khan playing the lead character, Dangal's plot revolves around a father who aspires his daughters to become stars in wrestling. The movie is based on the real-life story of the Phogat family. It became India's highest-grossing film of all time with a record collection of INR 2024 Crore made with a budget of just INR 70 Crores.

There are many reasons behind the massive success of this film. Number one is obviously Aamir Khan, who displayed incredible commitment towards playing the character of Mahavir Singh Phogat. The other lead characters Fatima Sheikh and Sanya Malhotra, underwent training in wrestling for a more realistic performance. Nitesh Tiwari, the director of Dangal left no stone unturned to make this movie one of the best in the history of the Indian cinema.

2. Bahubali 2- The Conclusion (2017):

After the massive success of Bahubali -1, S.S. Rajamouli, a South-Indian star director shattered all the previous records of Indian movies with the epic sequel – Bahubali 2. The movie stands as the highest-grossing Indian movie with a record worldwide collection of INR 1810 Crore. Prabhas, Anushka, Rana and Sathya raj justified their characters and breathed life into their roles. Additionally, the tight plot, dramatic sequences and VFX made Bahubali 2 a true visual fantasy treat.

The movie got released in five Indian languages – Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam and Kannada. It played on over 9,000 screens worldwide. Bahubali 2 is also the first Indian movie to have crossed the 1000 Cr benchmark in India and holds the record for getting the highest first-day collections in Indian cinema with an estimated INR 40.75 Cr benchmark. Sony Entertainment bought the satellite rights for this movie for 78 Crores, the highest for an Indian movie so far. Putting aside the technical values of the movie, we think it's the haunting question – "Why did Kattappa Kill Bahubali" that drove scores of audiences to the theatres!

3. Bhajrangi Bhaijaan (2015):

With a world-wide collection of INR 969.06 Crores, BhajrangiBhaijaan created a new record of being the highest-grossing Indian film at that time. The 2015 movie has Salman Khan as its lead actor, who is renowned for making highest grossers. Unlike Sallu's usual flicks in which he flexes his muscles and thrashes the goons, Bhajrangi has a unique plot and storyline. The movie is about reuniting a six-year-old Pakistani Muslim girl with her parents in Pakistan.

BhajrangiBhaijaan is a blockbuster hit for many reasons, apart from Salman's presence. The humour-filled dialogues, emotional scenes and melodious music contributed to the film's huge success. In India, the film made record collections of INR 444.92 Crores. Interestingly, it earned approximately INR 311.45 Crores from China alone! BhajrangiBhaijaan also broke the first day collection records of PK with INR 27 crores.

4. Secret Superstar (2017):

Secret Superstar, released in 2017, created a sensation by becoming the most profitable Indian cinema of all times. It is made with a budget of INR 15 Crores and ended up with a ground-shaking box office collection of INR 965 Crores. Secret Superstar is a product of Aamir Khan productions, a production studio owned by Aamir Khan and Kiran Rao. Although Aamir plays a key role in the movie, the spotlight is on other actors like Zaira Wasim, MeherVij and Raj Arun. The plot revolves around a muslim girl who aspires to become a singer but gets caught up in the societal norms. She starts a Youtube channel to showcase her talent but covers herself with a niqab, thus earning the title 'Secret Superstar'.

The movie earned many positive reviews from fans and critics for touching upon many complex subjects like gender inequality, patriarchy etc. It also stands as the highest-grossing Indian film with a female protagonist in India with a 6,000% ROI.

5. PK (2014):

PK is a blockbuster movie directed by Raj Kumar Hirani. It got released in 2014 with Aamir Khan as the main protagonist. PK is a science-fiction comedy-drama that emerged as the highest-grossing films of all time in India in 2014. It is also the 70th highest-grossing film world-wide at that time with a collection of INR 854 Crores and Indian box office collection of INR 340.8 Crores. PK is the story of an alien and his adventurous journey in India. Aamir Khan excels as a humanoid alien and sends the audience into peals of laughter and makes them feel emotional at the same time.

Other attractions of the movie are Anushka Sharma and TaapseePannu who played their parts quite well. PK's unique storyline and excellent narration earned rave reviews from fans and critics alike. PK also created history by being the first Bollywood movie to enter the Billion Dollar club from online bookings and grossed NR 175 Crores in the first week itself.

6. 2.0 (2018):

South Indian star director Shankar is renowned for making movies with the most extravagant budgets. 2.0 which features Superstar Rajnikanth stood as India's one of the highest-grossing films with a box office collection of INR 655 Crores. 2.0 is a Tamil film which got dubbed into other languages like Telugu, Hindi etc. It is also the most expensive films in the history of Indian Cinema ever with a massive budget of INR 575 Crores.

Rajnikanth plays the role of a protagonist while Akshay Kumar is the antagonist in the movie. The film is about the negative spirit of a deceased ornithologist called Pakshi (Akshay Kumar) harming public for using cell phones. Dr. Vaseegaran (Rajanikanth) tries to save the people from Pakshi with the help of Chitti the Robot. The film received appreciation for the use of VFX and also for touching up issues related to cell phone usage.

7. Bahubali – The Beginning (2015):

Bahubali: The Beginning is the first part of the magum opus 'Bahubali'. It is directed by S.S.Rajamouli who put his blood and sweat into making this film as India's biggest ever blockbuster. It was made with a budget of INR 180 Crores, the highest at that time and earned collections of INR 650 Crores. This figure makes Bahubali -1 as one of the highest Grossing movies of India in 2015.

The epic action film revolves around two half brothers who eye the throne of Mahishmathi kingdom. Prabhas plays the protagonist role as Bahubali, while Rana plays the role of Ballaladeva, the antagonist. The other main actors like Ramya Krishna, Anushka, Satyaraj, Nazar, and Tamanna portrayed their characters very well.

8. Sultan (2016):

Sultan is a blockbuster movie of Salman Khan, who is a care-of address for highest-grossing Indian films. The movie is made with an INR 145 Crore budget and got an estimated INR 623.33 crore box office collection. The theme of the movie revolves around Sultan Ali Khan, played by Salman, who is an ex-wrestling champion, who revives his career to win money and respect. The other lead characters are played by Anushka Sharma and Randeep Hooda. Sultan received positive reviews from audience and critics for its storyline, wrestling sequences and music. The film opened to approximately INR 206 crores from first 3 days worldwide. This in itself is a record for any Indian film to do so at that time. It also holds records for maximum advance booking and 70% audience occupancy on first day of the release.

9. Sanju (2018):

In the current 'Biopic' trend of Bollywood, 'Sanju' stood as one of the movies with top box office collections in India in 2018. Sanju is the biopic of Sanjay Dutt which is very well portrayed by Ranbir Kapoor. Not only did Ranbir have an uncanny resemblance to Sanjay, but his behaviors and mannerisms tricked our brains into thinking that we are seeing Sanjay on the screen! Sanju created a record of being the movie with the highest single-day collection in Bollywood with a figure of INR 46.71 Crores.

The movie earned a gross total of INR 586.86 Crore world-wide and even earned seven nominations in the 64th Filmfare Awards. Apart from Ranbir's stellar performance, Raj Kumar Hirani's direction drove success to the movie. However, the movie did receive criticism for cleansing the image of Sanjay Dutt, whose real life is full of controversies.

10. Padmaavat (2018):

Padmaavat is a blockbuster movie from Sanjay Leela Bhansali which boasts of a heavy star cast including Deepika Padukone, Ranveer Singh and Shahid Kapoor. The 2018 movie holds the record for being the most expensive Indian films ever made and the highest income movies in India at that time. The production cost was INR 215 crores while the box office collection was INR 585 crores, making it the tenth highest grossing film of all times (until 2018).

Padmaavat also holds the record of being the first Indian film to be released in iMax 3D format. Despite receiving mixed reviews from the audience, the movie earned praises for its cinematography, elaborate costumes and background score. The period drama revolves around the story of the Afghan ruler, Aladdin Khilji and Princess Padmavati. The movie attracted controversies right from the production stage for misrepresenting the characters and portraying regressive patriarchal customs

11. Tiger Zinda Hai (2017):

Salman Khan is the brand ambassador of 100 crore+ collection movies with majority of his movies crossing the magic figure. Among them, 'Tiger Zinda Hai' stands as the highest grossing movie in India in 2017 with a record collection of INR 339 Crores exclusive of overseas collection. This movie is a sequel to the superhit film 'EkTha Tiger' in which Sallu Bhai plays the role of a RAW agent.

Irrespective of the plot, script and screenplay, Salman's movies run well simply because his fans love and adore him. So, when there is a good story and a charming heroine like Katrina Kaif accompanies him, what's not to love? The film also created a record of INR 34 crores on the first day, the highest at that time and got a whopping INR 570.83 Crores world-wide box office collections.

12. Dhoom 3 (2013):

Dhoom 3 was the much-awaited films of 2013 thanks to its superhit prequels Dhoom 1 and 2. The movie earned much attention for its incredible star cat comprising of Aamir Khan, Katrina Kaif, Abhishek Bachchan and Uday Chopra. After the release, Dhoom 3 created a record of being the highest grossing Indian movie with a box office collection of INR 589 Crores at that time. It also earned a gross collection of INR 4 Billion Worldwide within just 10 days of release.

Coming to the plot, Sahir (Aamir Khan) who is a circus entertainer robs a bank in Chicago and falls under suspicion by Inspector Jai and Ali played by Abhishek and Uday Chopra. Despite earning criticism for its length and dialogues, Dhoom 3 managed to get positive reviews from critics and audience for its screenplay and storyline.

13. Kabir Singh (2019):

After the South star Vijay Devarakonda smashed Tollywood's previous records with 'Arjun Reddy', it was time for Shahid Kapoor to shine. Kabir Singh is a 2019 remake of Arjun Reddy, directed by Sandeep Reddy Vanga. When fans and critics opined that it is technically impossible for anyone to replace Vijay even in a remake, Shahid proved them all wrong! His portrayal as Kabir Singh, the angry young man made even south Indian fans go gaga about him!

The story revolves around a house surgeon who falls in love with his junior and ends up being a highly abusive and alcoholic person after she gets married to someone else! Kabir Singh was made with a budget of INR 68 Crores and earned INR 383 Crores as box office collections. It stood as one of the biggest blockbuster movies in India at that time, particularly for a remake.

Those are the Top 13 Highest Grossing Films of All Time in India. With such high numbers, there is no doubt that Indian cinema will surpass international films in terms of collections and records one day. So, how many of these movies did you watch? Do you think there are any other movies which deserve to be in this list?