India's highest-grossing film led by debutants is not Saiyaara, Kaho Na Pyaar Hai: Made for ₹1 crore, out-earned RRR

Made for just ₹1 crore and with just two newcomers in the lead roles, this film sold 11 crore tickets worldwide.

It's been just three days since Saiyaara released in theatres, but Mohit Suri's film is already breaking records at the box office. The film, which stars Ahaan Panday and Aneet Padda, has earned ₹85 crore in India in its opening weekend, the highest for any debutant-led Indian film ever. It is likely that the film will set a new all-time record for a film with debutants in lead by the time it ends its run. But that will be in gross terms only. If adjusted for inflation, or even when taking footfalls into account, one 50-year-old film still rules the roost.

This 16-year-old led the most successful Indian film starring debutants.

India's highest-grossing film led by debutants

Raj Kapoor's Bobby, which launched Rishi Kapoor and Dimple Kapadia in 1973, and turned them into overnight stars, still remains the most successful film led by debutants. The film was the highest-grossing Indian film of the year, netting ₹11 crore in the domestic market on a budget of just ₹1 crore. According to the book Cinema Industry in India: Pricing and Taxation, Bobby had 5.35 crore footfalls in India alone. The film's inflation-adjusted domestic gross would be close to ₹1000 crore today.

Rishi Kapoor and Dimple Kapadia made their debuts with Raj Kapoor's Bobby.

In comparison, Kaho Na Pyaar Hai, which launched Hrithik Roshan and Ameesha Patel, had just over 3 crore footfalls in India. Its inflation-adjusted domestic gross comes out to around ₹600 crore today. Saiyaara, for all its success, has managed around 50 lakh footfalls so far in India. The film is likely to cross 2 crore footfalls easily but may struggle to reach 3 crore. It would still be a massive achievement in today's post-pandemic times.

Bobby was also a stupendous success in the Soviet Union, selling 62.6 million tickets there and grossing 15.65 million Roubles. The film was also a massive success in Southeast Asian countries such as Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore, where even non-Indian audiences watched it despite there being no subtitles. The estimates on how much Bobby's inflation-adjusted overseas gross would be vary, but they are mostly in the ₹600-800 crore range. No other Indian film with debutants in the lead has managed these numbers overseas.

How Bobby beat pan-India blockbusters

Bobby's ₹11-crore box office gross in India was phenomenal. Sholay outdid it, earning ₹15 crore two years later. Its overseas record was broken by Disco Dancer a decade later. But when adjusted for inflation, its ₹1600-1800 crore haul (in today's amounts) makes it one of the biggest Indian films ever. It is more than what even pan-India films like RRR, Kalki 2898 AD, and Jawan managed recently.

The Rajdoot bike became a style statement due to this iconic sequence from Bobby.

All about Bobby

Raj Kapoor made Bobby as much to launch his son, Rishi, as to recover the losses his previous film, Mera Naam Joker, had incurred. Rishi was only cast in the movie because Raj Kapoor had no money to cast Rajesh Khanna, the reigning superstar. Produced under his banner of RK Films, the film featured 20-year-old Rishi and 16-year-old Dimple as young lovers who elope. The film also starred Prem Nath, Pran, Prem Chopra, Aruna Irani, Farida Jalal, and Durga Khote. Surprisingly, the film received middling reviews upon release, but was an instant hit with the masses.