Highest Grossing Hindi Movies of 1981
This list is as per the film's performance money wise at the box office in the particular year.
The order is as per revenue collected.
There are some years in which films which are regarded as classics post their release or have developed cult following among public over the years, have become box office flop at the time of their release.
The first 47 were superhits and rest films in this list below were declared as box office flops in India and in few as average grossers and the rest of the films from the beginning were Superhits.
Maan Gaye Ustad , Barsat Ki Ek Raat, Waqt Ki Deewar and Wardat are not regarded as classics
The order is as per revenue collected.
There are some years in which films which are regarded as classics post their release or have developed cult following among public over the years, have become box office flop at the time of their release.
The first 47 were superhits and rest films in this list below were declared as box office flops in India and in few as average grossers and the rest of the films from the beginning were Superhits.
Maan Gaye Ustad , Barsat Ki Ek Raat, Waqt Ki Deewar and Wardat are not regarded as classics
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- DirectorManoj KumarStarsDilip KumarManoj KumarShashi KapoorSanga, a devout employee of Raja Laxman Singh, is falsely accused of killing him. He escapes prison and forms a group of revolutionaries with the sole aim of driving the British out of India.
- DirectorManmohan DesaiStarsAmitabh BachchanShatrughan SinhaRishi KapoorA lottery ticket changes the lives of four friends.
- DirectorS.V. Rajendra Singh BabuStarsJeetendraHema MaliniOm ShivpuriSushil Kumar, a police officer, is charged with the task of apprehending a gang of kidnappers, who only target women. However, doing so not only threatens his identity and life but also his family's.
- DirectorPrakash MehraStarsAmitabh BachchanZeenat AmanRakhee GulzarA man, abandoned as a baby and forced to live as an orphan, is unknowingly employed by his biological father.
- DirectorSurendra MohanStarsRajesh KhannaReena RoyRakesh RoshanVijay Kumar Saxena is a rich playboy who cares about nothing he falls in love with Asha Nath who she ignore as she is in love with Anil due to an accident committed by Anil Vijay lost his eyesight and needs eyes donation to see again Anil dies and donating his eyes to Vijay who after that shows tremendous change in his behaviour and way of life but will he be able to live his new life forever? will he be able to win Asha hurt especially after she knew about Anil donation?
- DirectorK. BalachanderStarsKamal HaasanRati AgnihotriMadhaviThe cross-cultural romance between Vaasu and Sapna meets heavy opposition from their family, who vow to stop their union at any cost. As the star-crossed lovers forbidden love ensues, nothing will prepare them for their tragic destiny.
- DirectorAnil HingoraniArjun HingoraniStarsDharmendraRishi KapoorZeenat AmanA wealthy woman faces trauma when her husband is killed, and both her young sons abducted. She spends years looking for them, until one day she comes across a young man named Munna, who is wearing a family heirloom around his neck. She accepts him as her son, and takes him to live with her in her palatial house. Then she comes across another young man, Ajit, and accepts him as her elder son. Satisfied that she has both her sons back, she shows Ajit her priceless treasures, which are kept in a vault, and the combination to open the vault. What this lady does not know that neither of these young men are her sons, and their presence in her house is merely to loot the treasure from the vault.
- DirectorRajendra Kumar TuliRahul RawailStarsKumar GauravVijayata PanditDanny DenzongpaA carefree son of a wealthy builder and an overprotected daughter of a rich father elope from their homes and end up falling for each other not aware of their parents unresolved past.
- DirectorRakesh KumarStarsAmitabh BachchanNeetu SinghTanuja SamarthBishan loses his fortune while helping his friend Kishan in his singing career. Now successful, would Kishan return the favour?
- DirectorChetan AnandStarsRajesh KhannaRaaj KumarHema MaliniChandramukhi visits Shimla and learns that she is a reincarnation of Paro, a girl who was raped and murdered. Plagued by her dark past, she attempts to bring the culprits to justice.
- DirectorShomu MukherjeeStarsRajesh KhannaTina AmbaniOm ShivpuriBihari is jealous of his rich relative, Virendra Singh, and swaps his son with his own, Kishan. Kishan eventually grows up to become a burglar.
- DirectorAmbrish SangalStarsRajesh KhannaHema MaliniPoonam DhillonProsecuting Attorney Seema proceeds with the criminal prosecution of Deepak Srivastav, who is accused of Murder. She submits to the Judge to not be fooled by the innocent looks and the silence of the accused, as she will prove that the accused was in fact a cold-blooded murderer who killed a Courtesan by the name of Munnibai. Deepak gets life imprisonment punishment,Seema later has been told the truth in her absence,complicated by the fact that Seema was in love with the accused about three-years ago.
- DirectorRama Rao TatineniStarsJeetendraRekhaNazneenSadhana (Rekha) and Ramkumar (Jeetendra) are a married couple. Their marriage gets into troubled waters when Sadhana starts to suspect that Ramkumar is having an affair. Sadhana does not handle the matter properly, and drives him away from her. Her family attempt to talk to her and try to patch things up for the couple, but Sadhana is relentless. What will bring the couple to come together and attempt to re-build their marriage?
- DirectorTinnu AnandStarsAmitabh BachchanAsha ParekhParveen BabiJailed for robbing his brother's unscrupulous employer, a simpleton has a transformation while in prison, emerging with a violent mission for revenge.
- DirectorEsmayeel ShroffStarsHelenAsha ParekhRaaj KumarA college professor agrees to teach the son of a gangster and becomes a pawn in a deadly game.
- DirectorLekh TandonStarsJeetendraRameshwariSarika ThakurInder Malhotra (Jeetendra) is a hardworking Executive in an organization, and is due for a promotion from his boss, Mr. Kohli, who also plans to marry his daughter Anita (Sarika) with Inder. Mr. Kohli also meets with Inder's mom, and a marriage is planned between the two families. While attending a meeting, Inder gets drunk, and as a result commits to marry an orphan, Sharda (Rameshwari). The marriage is finalized according to appropriate Hindu Rites. Inder accepts the marriage even though he knew he was drunk. But Inder's mom is difficult to convince, and Inder and his friend/co-worker, Jagdish (Jagdeep), plan to kill Sharda, so that Inder's mom can have her way and get him married to Anita Kohli. What follows will change Inder's life forever. Notable songs are "Aap ka khat mila, aap ka sukriya, aap ne yaad mujko kiya, sukriya sukriya"; "Roop ki rani teri khader na jani me hoon bada saudai, me hoon bada saudai"; "kahey bindya lagai maine nindiya gawai, piyaji ko pasand nahin". aai...".
- DirectorRamesh TalwarStarsShashi KapoorRakhee GulzarRekhaSharda and her sister Poornima alias Nima live with their widowed father. Since both have come of age, he first arranges Sharda's marriage with a businessman named Balraj Kohli. Subsequently, Poornima also marries a wealthy young man. But fate has other plans for Nima, for her husband tragically passes away in an accident, leaving her widowed. When Sharda sees her sister in a widow's garb, she loses her mental balance and is institutionalized in Pune Mental Hospital. After approximately 14 years, an inmate strikes Sharda on her head, she loses consciousness for several days. When she regains her senses, she remembers everything that happened 14 years ago, but is unable to recollect her life in the mental hospital. Her treating psychiatrist is ready to discharge her to the care of her husband and her family. Sharda comes home, everything is about the same, except that her son, Sagar, has grown up and is about to be engaged to Sarita Sethi, and Nima still wears a widow's garb. A few months later Sharda sees Nima clad in a colorful saree, wearing a bindiya with sindoor in her forehead, and starts suspecting that everything is not it seems to be. She then finds out that Balraj had re-married and also has a son from his second marriage named Babbu. As details come flooding into her she experiences wild paranoia, is unable to trust anyone, as no one is what they claim to be, and she feels alone, lost, helpless, and distrustful. The rest of the family hover around - waiting to see what the new outcome is to be with Sharda and her struggle to fit into a family that has not been her's for 14 years.
- DirectorDasari Narayana RaoStarsJeetendraReena RoyVinod MehraWhile looking for employment, Chandrakant is mistaken for the son of a wealthy landlord by Prabhudas, who wants him to marry his only daughter, Shanti. By the time they find out the truth, it is too late, both Chandrakant and Shanti have fallen in love, and are soon married. With lots of hard work, and dedication, Chandrakant is able to build small empire, and they too enjoy some wealth and wellbeing. Shanti gives birth to a son, Ravi. Years pass, Shanti has passed away, and Chandrakant is filled with regret that he did not spend much time with her, as he was busy accumulating wealth. Ravi is in love with Manorama, and does marry her. But then he too is caught up in making money, like his dad. And unlike Shanti, Manorama will not compromise with this situation, unless Ravi changes his lifestyle, which he may not be willing to do so.
- DirectorShibu MitraStarsShashi KapoorPran SikandAmjad KhanChandan Singh is a farmer who lives in a village called Ramgarh along with his wife, Malti, and two children, Munna and Munni. One day Malti gets molested by three city goons, Jaikishan, Rajan, and Banoo. Chandan intervenes, but is attacked, and Malti is shot dead. The children get separated, while Munna is adopted by a Muslim male named Abba and is re-named Shera, Munni is adopted by a Hindu family and re-named Geeta. Years later the three estranged family members are fated to meet again - this time Geeta is a con-woman, who has a con-man boyfriend, Kishan, who is on the lookout for the man who killed his photographer brother, and believes that Chandan is the killer; while Chandan, who is now known as Chandan Dada, a hoodlum, has been arrested for killing a man named Rajan; while Shera, a hit-man and hoodlum himself, has feigned his arrest, after accepting a contract from none other than Jaikishan - to kill Chandan!!
- DirectorAshok RoyStarsShashi KapoorVinod KhannaNeetu SinghA young beautiful-looking woman sells liquor while her boyfriend is stuck in prison.
- DirectorRabindra DharmarajStarsSavita BajajArun BakshiSuresh BhagwatAmma lives in Bijapur with her husband and son, Benwa. When a man attempts to sexually molest her, he is killed by her husband, the trio flee, but the husband is shot dead by the police. Amma re-locates to a shanty slum near Dharavi, Bombay, where Benwa grows up and shines shoes for a living. Amma is sexually active with Looka, a hoodlum and extortionist who shows up once in while, and also has a steady relationship with trucker, Anna. Both Looka and Anna are unaware of each other. Looka gets Benwa married to Amli from a nearby slum & Anna gets Amma a much better shelter. All seems to be going well until the Police come looking for an injured Looka, when he robs a pharmacy in order to get medicines for himself. Watch what happens when the Police arrive and find a visibly pregnant Amma with Looka, and the impact this will have on her relationship with Anna.
- DirectorSunil DuttRaj KhoslaStarsSanjay DuttReena RoyTina AmbaniShankar a union leader looses his life in accident at work site while he was fighting with his boss Ratanlal for rights of workers,Ratanlal decides to agree on Shankar's demands after his death with due respect.But JD and Ram Avtar aren't happy with his decision and kill him unlike Shankar.Shankar's friend Robert Dsouza decides to support his family but JD starts to eye Shankar's widow Parvati and tries to molest her,while trying to save his mother Shankar's son Rakesh hurts himself and goes in trauma.Rakesh whenever sees his mother gets the same vision and looses his control so Robert and his wife Katy decide to adopt him and name him Rocky Dsouza.Years later Rocky has grown up to be a handsome guy and falls in love with Renu daughter of Ratanlal while on trip to Srinagar but Renu mistakes him to be RD son of JD until the truth is out.Rocky and Renu fall in love and RD tries to creates hurdles where Rocky also finds that JD was responsible for spoiling their life and killing his father.
- DirectorRavikant NagaichStarsMithun ChakrabortyKaajal KiranShakti KapoorLocust attack has created havoc in some villagers where crops are being destroyed and human life is in danger Anand and Rosie who are investigating the case get killed by Shakti.The chief officer then decides to appoint his smart officer Gopi (Gunsmaster G 9) on the mission,Gopi is in holiday mood and in no mood to take the case.But soon Gopi returns back and finds some grains bought by assistant Kabaadi which relates to weaken immune system of human body.Shakti and his associates mixes these grains with a substance which makes human body addicted to it and weakens their immune.Shakti also makes Anand's sister Dr Anuradha believe that Gopi killed her brother and asks her to seduce him for revenge.But Gopi is smart enough to to understand he finds that the locust attack is not natural but controlled by a force and Shakti is not the head of the gang but its operated by a scientific mastermind.
- DirectorShyam RamsayTulsi RamsayStarsNavin NischolRakesh RoshanBindiya GoswamiSuraj is separated from his love Seema and wants to build a hotel at the location where he met her, he tells his secretary Lalwani to check out the location. Lalwani finds the scenic location but it has a ancestral graveyard on it and is taken care by an old Priest. Lawani along Chagganlal Patel and his secretary Shaboo including, advocate Kapoor, Abdul, Dsouza a labor contractor and Judas a trusted aide of the Church Priest cheat the priest by forging the papers that an orphanage will be built on the Graveyard land. When the priest finds the truth about a Hotel being built out there he passes away of a heart attack, Chaggan Lal and his team demolish the graveyard and start the hotel work. Suraj tells his friend Vijay's brother Sanjay to check out the work on the Hotel as it is about to open in coming days. Vijay reaches the hotel after two days and finds that Sanjay is missing, the hotel is inaugurated upon arrival of Suraj, but strange things start to happen in hotel and one by whose involved in matter gets killed.
- DirectorMadhu M.StarsSanjeev KumarMoushumi ChatterjeeArun GovilRaja, a penniless man, meets Asha on a bus. They fall in love, marry and have kids. When Asha joins work to support the family, Raja becomes a homemaker, leading to chaos and hilarity for both at work and home due to their reversed roles.