Drilling down even further, of the 20 top-earning Hindi films in history on a global level, every single one of them has hit cinemas in the last decade. Whether they’re action-packed adventures, sprawling fantasies, star-crossed romances, epic period pieces, raucous comedies, or hard-boiled thrillers, it’s right there in the numbers that Bollywood is bigger than ever.

However, crossing the threshold and joining the fabled ‘1000 Crore Club’ is a lot more difficult. In fact, only eight features have ever managed to break through that barrier, and just three of them are Hindi-language flicks. That does include the top spot, though, and it could be a while before that particular record is smashed.

Being the highest-grossing film in both Bollywood and Hindi cinema history, the highest-grossing Hindi flick in international markets, the biggest hit in its country of origin, and one of the most commercially successful sports dramas of all time regardless of where they were made or what pastime they focus on is an impressive list of accolades, placing co-writer and director Nitesh Tiwari’s Dangal at the head of the pack.

The biopic stars Aamir Khan as Mahavir Singh Phogat, an amateur wrestler who trains his daughters from their youth to mould them into the best grapplers on the planet. The genre has always been one of the most inspirational and uplifting, but Dangal took off like a rocket among the general public.

By the time the dust had settled on its theatrical run, the movie had become the first film from India, whether it was Hindi-language or not, to cross $300 million at the box office. To put that into context, Bollywood’s second most lucrative big screen export – Atlee’s action thriller Jawan – earned less than half as much.

What is the most expensive Bollywood movie ever made?

Bollywood productions may not be as expensive as their Hollywood counterparts, but that doesn’t mean they come cheap. The production values of the biggest movies are there for everyone to see, and the increased popularity in blockbuster-sized Indian cinema has led to an uptick in budgets.

India’s most expensive movie is Nag Ashwin’s Telegu-language sci-fi epic Kalki, which cost nearly $70 million. Bollywood hasn’t dipped its hand quite as far into its pocket, with the costliest Hindi-language film being Ayan Mukerji’s fantastical adventure Brahmāstra: Part One – Shiva, which set the studio back almost $45 million.

What was the first feature-length Bollywood movie?

Expensive, effects-laden extravaganzas with the potential to earn hundreds of millions of dollars might be commonplace these days, but it was unfathomable when the first Bollywood movie was released over a century ago.

Widely acknowledged as India’s first-ever feature film, writer, director, and producer, Dadasaheb Phalke’s Raja Harishchandra arrived in 1913. Although it was a silent picture, it carried intertitles in English, Marathi, and Hindi, inadvertently planting a flag for what would eventually become known as one of the industry’s most creatively fertile markets.

While some have declared Shree Pundalik, Dadasaheb Torne’s work released the year previously, as India’s first feature, its status as a photographed recording of a play means it technically isn’t a movie in the strictest sense. That’s the local government’s stance, anyway, making it hard to argue against.

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