41 Years of Disco Dancer EXCLUSIVE: Mithun Chakraborty explains how he felt when the musical became the FIRST Indian film to cross Rs. 100 crore mark: “I couldn’t believe it. I was like, ‘Itna paisa, baap re’!”

By Fenil Seta -

December 13, 2023 - 10:00 AM IST

Disco Dancer (1982) celebrates its 41st anniversary on December 10 or December 17 (there’s confusion over its original release date). It made Mithun Chakraborty not just a nationwide sensation but a global star and moreover, its box office performance is unparalleled. In the Soviet Union, Disco Dancer, as per reports, sold 120 million tickets. Forbes states that it grossed Rs. 90 crores in the USSR. If one adds the domestic collections, the earnings of Disco Dancer crossed the Rs. 100 crore mark and it became the first Indian film to do so.

41 Years of Disco Dancer EXCLUSIVE: Mithun Chakraborty explains how he felt when the musical became the FIRST Indian film to cross Rs. 100 crore mark: “I couldn’t believe it. I was like, ‘Itna paisa, baap re’!”

This was a time when the focus was not much on the box office, like today, and even, social media was absent. Mithun Chakraborty recently spoke exclusively with Bollywood Hungama about his upcoming film Kabuliwala, and we asked him to comment about Disco Dancer and its box office numbers. How did he feel then to achieve this historic feat?

Mithun Chakraborty smiled as he said, “Nowadays if a film does less than Rs. 100 crores, it feels like it has flopped. At that time, when Disco Dancer did a business of Rs. 100 crores, I couldn’t believe it. I was like, ‘Itna paisa, baap re’! If a film did Rs. 3 to 5 crores in a territory, it used to be considered a blockbuster business. So, if you add all territories, a business of Rs. 50-55 crores used to be seen as unbelievable numbers. Now, if a film doesn’t cross Rs. 100 crores, people would be like ‘Haan, theek hai’! Aaj kal shayad paisa bahut sasta ho gaya hai (laughs)!”

The demand for Disco Dancer’s sequel has gone up, more so after the blockbuster numbers achieved by the Sunny Deol-starrer Gadar 2. Mithun Chakraborty explained why Disco Dancer 2 is not possible, “Once in a while, a film gets a success of this kind. Woh bas ho gaya uss time pe. It has been included in the category of immortal films. Jab tak hum rahenge, agar hum nahin bhi rahenge, toh bhi Disco Dancer rahegi. It was the first musical dancing film. It didn’t make me a musical star. It made me a dancing superstar. In today’s times, nobody will take the risk of making a film only on dance. It was a risk taken by B Subhash ji and it paid off.”

Also Read: EXCLUSIVE: Mithun Chakraborty talks about Kabuliwala; reveals why he doesn’t get worked up about reviews anymore: “Earlier, I used to get a fever on Friday and even dysentery! Now it doesn’t make any difference”