The first Indian film to cross worldwide was the 1982 Hindi film
Disco Dancer, directed by Babbar Subhash, written by
Rahi Masoom Raza, and starring
Mithun Chakraborty, with over 90 crore grossed at the
Soviet (present-day Russia) box office. The first Indian film to gross over 100 crore domestically in India was the
Salman Khan and
Madhuri Dixit starrer
Hum Aapke Hain Kaun (1994). The next film to cross worldwide was the
Shah Rukh Khan and
Kajol starrer (1995). The 100 Crore Club emerged more than a decade later, when the
Aamir Khan, Asin and Jiah Khan starrer
Ghajini (2008) was released and became the first Hindi film to earn net at the box office, soon after which the term "100 Crore Club" was coined. Overseas, the first Indian film to gross 100 crore in international markets was the Shah Rukh Khan-Kajol-starrer
My Name is Khan (2010), followed by
3 Idiots in 2011. Beyond Hindi cinema, the first
South Indian film to gross over 100 crore worldwide was 2007
Rajinikanth starring
Tamil film Sivaji. The first
Telugu film to enter the "100 Crore club" was the 2009 film by
S.S. Rajamouli,
Magadheera. In May 2016,
Sairat become the first
Marathi film to gross over worldwide. In 2016,
Mohanlal starring
Pulimurugan became the first
Malayalam film to enter the club. In 2017, the first
Indian English language film to enter the 100 Crore club was the Indo-British co-production
Viceroy's House directed by
Gurinder Chadha. It earned $12.8 million worldwide. The first
Kannada movie to enter 100 Crore club was
KGF: Chapter 1 directed by
Prashanth Neel, released in 2018, starring
Yash and
Srinidhi Shetty crossing 153 crores in 11 days. When adjusted for inflation, the first Indian film to gross an adjusted 100 crore was the 1940 film
Zindagi, directed by
P.C. Barua and written by Javed Hussain. The first Indian film to gross an adjusted 100 crore overseas was the 1951 film
Awaara, directed by
Raj Kapoor, written by
Khwaja Ahmad Abbas, and starring Raj Kapoor and
Nargis, becoming a blockbuster in the
Soviet Union.{{#tag:ref|
Awaara: crore (US$ million) in 1954 ( crore (US$ million) in 2016) • India: 2.3 crore (US$4.83 million) in 1951 (US$ million (302 crore) (US$7.25 million, 3.45 crore) The
Hindustan Times claims that their magazine
Brunch coined the term. Initially the term applied only to the lead male actor. The
Zee Cine Awards added a category "The Power Club Box Office" to recognise directors whose films had reached the 100 crore mark. The 100 Crore Club designation has replaced previous Bollywood indications of success which had included great music, the "Silver Jubilee" or the "Diamond Jubilee" (films that ran for 75 weeks in theatres). However,
DNA reported that "Filmmakers and distributors are known to leave no stone unturned in their attempt to cross over to the right side" of the 100 crore mark."
The Times of India cancelled its "Box Office" column in November 2013 because "The stakes of filmmakers have increased so much that they are willing to go any distance to manipulate and jack up their numbers to beat each other's records." and the Times felt they were no longer able to provide accurate enough figures because "Films that have not reached the '100 crore mark but are close will insist that they have reached the '100 crore figure as they can't resist being in the '100 crore club.'" The concentration on reaching the club has been criticised, with actor and producer
Arshad Warsi stating, "I find this whole Rs.100 crore club very stupid. How can every film releasing lately do a business of Rs.100 crores all of a sudden? Instead of this, we need to concentrate on making good films."
Shahid Kapoor called the designation a "fad" which was leading to "massy films which are very basic in their understanding and high on entertainment. But if we run only to achieve those figures then we will restrict ourselves as actors."
Priyanka Chopra said that being part of films in the 100 Crore Club allowed her to also do less commercial "women-oriented films", and lamented that as of December 2013, no woman oriented films had achieved the 100 Crore Club designation. Variations of the "Bollywood 100 Crore Club" came into use, such as the "Bollywood 400 Crore Club" when the
Shah Rukh Khan-
Deepika Padukone-starrer
Chennai Express reported box office receipts of 400 crore in 2013, and the "Tollywood 600 Crore Club", which relates to
Telugu films that have earned over in 2015, such as film
Baahubali: The Beginning which earned . They were eventually succeeded by the
1000 Crore Club, when
Baahubali 2: The Conclusion crossed the mark () in 2017. == List of Films ==