The Most-Watched Movie in India? Not a Hit, But a Forgotten Flop

Sholay widely considered the biggest box-office success in Indian cinematic history – has allegedly sold more than 20 crore tickets on its different runs in India and millions abroad. It is reckoned that this would make it the most-watched Indian movie ever. And perhaps it has been so for ages. But cable TV and the internet shook things up for film. And now, consumption is quantifiable in terms of TRPS, streaming time, and YouTube views. And because of that, a box office failure has turned into the highest-watched Indian movie of all time, to everyone’s surprise.

For those who have viewed Sony MAX or scrolled through YouTube, it must be no wonder why Amitabh Bachchan’s cult classic Sooryavansham is the most-watched Indian film ever. Directed by EVV Satyanarayana, Bachchan was cast along with Soundarya, Jayasudha, Rachna Banerjee, Anupam Kher, and Kader Khan in this 1999 box office disaster that fetched as little as ₹12.65 crore all over the globe and failed even to break even. It sold fewer than 40 lakh tickets in India, a disappointing figure.

From Flop to Phenomenon: The Sooryavansham Surge

But then it was later premiered on Sony MAX (then SET MAX). In the last 25 years, Sooryavansham has been re-run innumerable times on the channel. The BARC figures revealed that as recently as 2017, Sooryavansham re-runs were attracting as many as 4.4 million impressions (i.e., it was being viewed in 44 lakh homes). Figures for the movie’s TV watching are uncertain, though, but according to experts, they must be at least 25-30 crore, perhaps even more. The movie is also streaming on Amazon Prime Video, contributing a few million minutes there as well.

But most of Sooryavansham’s record-breaking views, nonetheless, are coming from YouTube. The movie has been officially uploaded – in its entirety – on the site by Goldmines Entertainment (which distributes its YouTube rights). Goldmines has posted the film on three channels combined, which have a total of 701 million (70 crore) views. This makes the Amitabh Bachchan movie have an estimated 100 crore views across all platforms. How big that number is can be estimated from the fact that Sholay has 2 million views on YouTube, and DDLJ has less than one. Baahubali: The Beginning, which also enjoys a cult following, fares slightly better with a total of 20 million views on YouTube. None, however, approach Sooryavansham.

About Sooryavansham

The 1999 film, a remake of the 1997 Tamil film Surya Vamsam, was produced on a budget of ₹7 crore. Revolving around a traditional father and his illiterate yet obedient son (both played by Bachchan), the film opened to mixed reviews but bombed at the box office. Over the years, it has gained a cult following, with its reruns featuring in the top 5 of most-watched films on TV every time for two decades. In the digital age, the movie has also entered the pop culture realm, providing memes that have widened its audience to a younger generation.