Chennai Express poster released
Chennai Express poster released

Shah Rukh Khan and Deepika Padukone starrer romantic comedy, "Chennai Express" has finally smashed the lifetime record of Aamir Khan's "3 Idiots" at the domestic box office. It has now become the highest grosser film ever in the history of Indian cinema after breaking the record of "3 Idiots" just by a small margin.  

The family entertainer helmed by Rohit Shetty minted approximately ₹2.12 crore on the third Friday, taking the domestic collections tolal to ₹202.67 crore in just 15 days. 

The film raked in ₹156.7 crore in the first week, ₹43.85 crore in the second week and ₹2.12 crore on the third Friday.

"Records are meant to be shattered and #ChennaiExpress does just that. Becomes the BIGGEST grosser of Hindi cinema," trade analyst Taran Adarsh tweeted.  

"3 Idiots" is a comedy drama film released in 2009, featuring Aamir Khan, Sharman Joshi, R. Madhavan and Kareena Kapoor in the lead roles. Upon its release, the film broke all the records and went on to become the biggest ever grosser in Bollywood.

Released in over 1700 screens across India, the comedy drama crossed double century milestone in 70 days (more than two months) of its release.

Compared to "3 Idiots", SRK starrer was released in more than 3700 screens in India, and that too during festive season with higher ticket price.

Here are the records set by "Chennai Express" from the day it hit the screens:

1.           It earned ₹6.75 crore from paid preview, breaking "3 Idiots" paid preview record.   

2.           "CE" became the highest first day earner with ₹33.12 crore, beating Salman's "Ek Tha Tiger" record.

3.            Holds the record for highest second-day collection with ₹28.05 crore.

4.            It became the fastest film to cross ₹100 crore mark in India.

5.            By making ₹156 crore in just seven days, the film made the highest first week collection.

6.            It became the first film to cross ₹200 crore mark in 15 days.  

7.            It is the highest grosser film ever in India, breaking "3 Idiots" lifetime collection record.             

Here is the list of top 10 films with lifetime collections based on figures provided by Adarsh: 

Position

Films

Release Date

Earnings in Crore

1)      

Chennai Express

9 August

202.67 (still counting)

2)      

3 Idiots

25 December, 2009

202.47

3)      

Ek Tha Tiger

15 August, 2012

198.78

4)      

Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani

31 May, 2013

188.57

5)      

Dabangg 2

21 December, 2012

155.00

6)      

Bodyguard

31 August, 2011

148.86

7)      

Dabangg

10 September, 2010

138.88

8)      

Rowdy Rathore

1 June, 2012

133.25

9)      

Jab Tak Hai Jaan

12 November, 2012

120.85

10)  

Ready

3 June, 2011

119.78