The Hindi film industry, popularly christened as Bollywood, is one of the largest film production centres in the world. The first feature film produced in India was the Dadasaheb Phalke directed silent black-and-white film Raja Harishchandra, which was released in 1913.^[1] With time, the industry expanded and the number of films produced kept increasing throughout the 1920s and 1930s. With expansion, newer technologies were introduced including the use of sound and later color. Alam Ara was India's first sound film, while Kisan Kanya was India's first color film (incidentally, both are directed by the same person).^[2] Introduction of these technologies significantly shaped the style of Indian film-making, as the advent of sound popularised musicals and song-and-dance sequences, making them an integral part of Indian films. The industry did face problems during the 1930s because of independence movements and international wars.^[3] The 1940s, 1950s and 1960s are often called the "golden years" of Bollywood. Films received much critical appreciation all over the world. Several notable cinematic figures such as Guru Dutt, Raj Kapoor and Bimal Roy were active during these years and were instrumental in developing the industry. Mehboob Khan's Mother India received universal acclaim and became India's first feature film to be nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film; till date, it is one of only three Bollywood films (Salaam Bombay! and Lagaan) to share that honour. Other Bollywood films from the era were screened in major film festivals across the world, and some of them won major prizes as well. Parallel cinema also emerged during this time, and gained momentum later on after a "hibernation" phase.

Beginning with the 1940s, Bollywood films also saw major commercial success, and several box office milestones were breached. As the popularity of cinema spread, theatrical revenue kept increasing. The 1943 Gyan Mukherjee-directed Kismet became the first Bollywood film to cross the ₹1 crore mark. Subsequently, more films breached the ₹10 million mark until Shree 420 breached the ₹2 crore mark for the first time. Beginning with the 1960s and particularly 1970s, Bollywood films achieved major commercial success more regularly, and the revenue earned multiplied manifold throughout this period (a trend that continued into the 1990s); Sholay (1975) earned triple the amount that the previous record-holder Mughal-e-Azam (1960) earned, while Hum Aapke Hain Koun..! (1994) more than quadrupled Sholay's record. Post the "dark phase" of the 1980s, business increased tremendously as is visible from the major success of films like Hum Aapke Hain Koun..!, Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge and Gadar: Ek Prem Katha.

Initially, the success of a film was determined by box office longevity than revenue. However, due to increasing competition from television and the threat of piracy, and later the advent of alternative media, longevity of films decreased drastically and revenue became the focus of success. The revenue-earning pattern has become increasingly front-loaded over the years, and now most films depend only on first weekend/first week revenue to decide the fate of a film, a trend that has received widespread criticism from industry experts. This trend was further intensified after the multiplex boom in India following liberalisation, which caused ticket prices and theatrical screening scope to increase. Since 2008, Bollywood films have started breaching the ₹100 crore mark consistently; Ghajini was the first Bollywood film to cross the mark. Considered a turning point in Bollywood, multiple films have breached that mark since then. Beginning with the 2000s (decade) and particularly 2010s, the release size and marketing efforts have increased rapidly to the extent that films can achieve the ₹100 crore mark in a single week, and the single-day full-capacity revenue can be ₹30 crore. Franchises have witnessed increasing popularity and several highly popular franchises such as Dabangg, Dhoom, Aashiqui, Murder, Golmaal, Housefull, Don etc. saw great success at the box office; additionally, each sequel has earned more than the previous film, making franchises a lucrative business proposal.

Below is a set of lists which track the records for highest-grossing films in India (by net figures, i.e. after tax reduction), highest opening days, highest opening weeks and also other specific lists. Since box office figures in India are not tracked strictly, figures from Box Office India are utilised; only extracts of lists are visible here for some of the lists due to copyright concerns. The original list showed the Top 30 films according to net revenue earned in India.

Background color       indicates films playing on 1 March 2024 in theatres around the world

Highest-grossing Bollywood films worldwide

The biggest Worldwide grossers in the history of Hindi film industry are listed below. Hum Aapke Hain Koun..! (released in 1994) was the first Bollywood film to cross ₹1 billion (US$13 million) worldwide.^[4] Since the gross figures are inflation unadjusted, films of 1970s to early 1990s didn't appear here.^[5] Box Office India give worldwide figures for Hindi films/Hindi versions of Bollywood films.^[6] The worldwide gross figures is given here after adding dubbed Telugu and Tamil version of Bollywood films.^{[7][8][9][10][11]}

Highest-grossing Bollywood films in India

The following is a non-definitive list of the all-time highest-grossing Bollywood films, by Real versus nominal value instead for inflation, it tends to favour films in more recent years, with all but two of the films in the top 30 being released after 2000.^[15] Films released prior to 1994 do not appear in the list because inflation, population size and ticket purchasing trends make direct comparisons inaccurate. Figures are given in Indian rupees.^[16][17]

All Time Highest grossing Bollywood films Worldwide(Inflation Adjusted)

The overall Box office All Time Highest grossing Bollywood films worldwide(Inflation Adjusted) is given by as following^[18] The figures are as of 2009.^[19][20]

All Time Highest grossing Bollywood films in India(Inflation Adjusted)

The overall Box office All Time Highest grossing Bollywood films in India(Inflation Adjusted) is given by as following^[21][22] The figures are as of 2009.^[23]

Speed to the 1 billion Nett Mark in India

Bollywood's 1 billion club includes Bollywood films earning ₹1 billion (US$13 million) at the Indian box office, after excluding entertainment tax into account.As of September 2013, 22 films have exceeded ₹1 billion (US$13 million) in takings.^[24][25][26]

Top Lifetime Distributor Shares in India

The distributor shares are what the Bollywood industry is interested in as they are the bottom line in deciding the fate of a Bollywood film at the Indian box office. The distributor shares are nett gross minus theatre rentals. The theater rentals vary. Multiplexes give 50% in week one, 42.5% in week two, 37.5% in week three and 30% thereafter to the distributor. The figures are inflation unadjusted.^[27] Chennai Express holds the record in Bollywood films with highest distributor share with ₹ 1.15 billion.^{[28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37][38]}

Records

Biggest opening day

The following is an extract of the list of the top 10 Bollywood films, which have had the biggest opening day gross.^[39][40][41]

Single day nett gross

The following is an extract of the list of the top 10 Bollywood films, which have had the biggest single day gross.^[42]

Opening weekend nett gross (First 3 days of release)

The following is an extract of the list of the top 10 Bollywood films, which have had the biggest opening weekend net gross.^[43][44]

Opening week nett gross (First 7 days of release)

The following is an extract of the list of the top 10 Bollywood films which have had the biggest opening week gross.^[45] This includes nett gross of non-Hindi versions of Bollywood films also.

Highest second day domestic nett

Highest second week domestic nett

The following is an extract of the list of the top 10 Bollywood films, which have had the biggest second week nett gross.^{[47][48][49][50][51][52][53][54]}

Highest third week domestic nett

The following is an extract of the list of the top 15 Bollywood films, which have had the biggest third week nett gross.^{[60][61][50][32]}

Highest-grossing films by month

Highest-grossing Bollywood films, ordered by the month of the year in which they released. For example, a film released on 31 March will be considered a March release, while a film released on 1 April will be considered an April release; despite the fact that for the former case, the major theatrical run of the film will be outside the release month. The list is derived from a number of lists, box office reports and statistics, all published by Box Office India. The base list from which most of this list's ranking is derived from is available here, in the Lifetime grossers list

Highest-grossing Bollywood films throughout history

The following is a list of Bollywood films, which have had the highest theatrical nett grosses (up to that time), according to BoxOffice India.com.^{[citation needed]}