The director who gave India's first Rs 100-crore film tragically ended his career after nine back-to-back flop films.
The 100-crore club of Indian cinema refers to a collection of films that have netted Rs 100 crore at the box office in India. The club began in 2008 with Aamir Khan’s Ghajini but over the years, a few films have been added to the club retroactively, always with an asterisk. The first of these was released way back in the 1980s and was helmed by a man who never gave another blockbuster.
The director of India’s first Rs 100-crore film
Babbar Subhash, also known in the film circles as B Subhash, was a filmmaker who began his journey in Bollywood in the late-1970s. His first directorial was the 1978 release Apna Khoon, starring Shashi Kapoor, Ashok Kumar, and Hema Malini. A couple of other lukewarm successes followed but it was the 1982 dance film Disco Dancer that made Subhash an established filmmaker. The film, starring Mithun Chakraborty and Kim, earned Rs 6 crore in India but was a runaway hit in the Soviet Union. By the mid-80s, it had grossed over Rs 100 crore worldwide, becoming the first Indian film to do so. No other Indian film could replicate the feat for another decade, when Hum Aapke Hain Koun and Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge joined the club.
Babbar Subhash’s film journey
The 100-crore club, today, has come to be synonymous with directors like Rohit Shetty (who has given the most number of such hits), Karan Johar, Rajkumar Hirani (every film of these two has entered the club), and SS Rajamouli. But Subhash founded the club years before any of them even shouted ‘action’ on a film set. And yet, Disco Dancer was the zenith of his career. Subhash saw some success with Kasam Paida Karne Wale Ki (1984) and Adventures of Tarzan (1985). But after his 1987 hit Dance Dance, it was all downhill. From the late-80s to the late-90s, Subhash directed nine back-to-back unsuccessful films. This included his first and only international production Divine Lovers, which starred Hollywood actor Maxwell Caulfield.
Babbar Subhash’s last film was Classic Dance of Love, which also marked his last collaboration with Mithun Chakraborty. After the film’s release and subsequent box office failure in 2005, the filmmaker then took a backseat from active direction.
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 "B Subhash, director of India's first Rs 100 crore film")
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