India’s most watched movie failed at box office, still has views over 100 crore, beat Sholay, Baahubali, Mughal-e-Azam, the film is…, lead actors are…

It is believed that Sholay is arguably the most-watched Indian film and the biggest hit in Indian cinema’s history. For a long time, this achievement was true. However, the rise of cable TV and Internet completely transformed how cinema measured its viewership. Today, TRPs, YouTube views, streaming minutes also count. Surprisingly, this shift made a box office flop the most-watched Indian film in history.

To anyone who ever browsed Sony MAX might know that how Amitabh Bachchan’s cult film Sooryavansham became a staple movie on that channel. It won’t be surprise that this film holds the tag of being the most watched Indian movie. Released in 1999, Sooryavansham starred Soundarya, Jayasudha, Rachna Banerjee, Anupam Kher, and Kader Khan, alongside Bachchan.

Directed by EVV Satyanarayana, the film was a Box office disappointment when released. It earned only Rs 12.65 crore worldwide and failed to break even. The 1999 release was able to sell just Rs 40 lakh tickets, a low response at that time.

But than Sooryavansham saw a different turn when it had its satellite premiere on Sony MAX (then called SET MAX).  In the past 25 years, the movie had countless re-telecasts on the channel. The re-runs were watched by over 40 lakh households, which is quite an impressive number. However, several experts claim that the number has to be at least 25-30 crore or even higher.

But, its bulk of major views come from YouTube. Sooryavansham has been finally uploaded on the platform by Goldmines Entertainment, which owns its YouTube rights. The film has been uploaded on Goldmines’s three different channels, which hold a combined viewership of 701 million. This gives the Amitabh Bachchan starrer an estimated 100 crore views across platforms.

In comparison to other highly-watched films like Sholay, which has 2 million views on YouTube, while DDLJ has under a million and Baahubali: The Beginning also has combined 20 million views. But none could beat Sooryavansham.

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