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Bollywood Top Superstars: Salman Khan leads, Aamir Khan follows, a tie between Ranveer Singh & Ranbir Kapoor
Salman Khan is the top scorer in seven of the 12 Hindi film markets; A tie with at number one spot with Aamir Khan in four of the remaining five. Dominates the list like a Tiger.
We as an industry love the number game, so do the readers. As much as we pretend that “films are art and much beyond numbers”, the box-office figures matter to each and every one, as filmmaking is a collaboration of art with commerce. The last decade has seen stars rewrite history and consolidate their position as the most bankable name of the industry. In terms of consistency backed by volume of blockbusters, Salman Khan is undoubtedly the number one star of the previous decade, followed by Aamir Khan, who though didn’t have the volume of releases, but was consistent in delivering those all-time grossers.
Be it the ability to deliver bumper openers all through the decade or delivering those big blockbusters and highest grossers of the year – Salman has seen it all last decade and the industry terms it as one of the best runs for a superstar in history of Indian cinema. Aamir on the other hand created history in his own way by creating a unique and fascinating record of delivering the greatest number of all-time grossers, defeating the rest of industry by miles.
Be it the ability to deliver bumper openers all through the decade or delivering those big blockbusters and highest grossers of the year – Salman has seen it all last decade
However, it was a rather dull decade for Shah Rukh Khan given his legacy in 90s and 2000s. While he stayed away from the list of top 10 grossers, the figures of his films in territories like West Bengal, Tamil Nadu and Mysore, suggest that he has a loyal fan base here and he is just a good film away from creating records in these circuits. A film like Dilwale, despite a clash, fared better than a mammoth blockbuster like Bajrangi Bhaijaan in Tamil Nadu. Likewise, Raees was neck to neck with Tiger Zinda Hai in TN, yet again reflecting his star power. The decade saw the rise of young stars like Ranbir Kapoor, Ranveer Singh and Tiger Shroff. Hrithik Roshan started off with a bang but low volume of releases in second half of the decade kept him away from being the front runner. Though the stats don’t reflect this, but Akshay Kumar with his volume of releases, and the consistent ability of churning out hits after hits post 2015 makes him find a place in top 3 stars of previous decade. He has delivered more hits than any actor last decade, but sadly, they were not those big blockbusters, keeping him a little away from the list of top 10 grossers.
Ajay Devgn was another dark horse, who probably doesn’t get the due he deserves, with a fairly consistent run at the box-office, again, something that the stats won’t reflect. Shahid Kapoor got into the list with the phenomenal performance of Kabir Singh, and if we add the Ranveer Singh and Deepika Padukone fronted Padmaavat to his kitty, he would probably be the third biggest in the list of top 10 films after Salman and Aamir. He however lacks the consistency. In terms of statistics, the top position all across is dominated by Salman and Aamir. Salman is a winner by a huge margin, and by far the most popular Hindi film star in Rajasthan with 5 films finding a place in top 10 of all time. He dominates 40% of the market share in other mass belts like Bihar, Assam and CI. Salman has found the top spot at Mumbai, Delhi and West Bengal too with 3 films in the top 10 list. The lead of Salman in mass belt is a reflection of his die hard, unprecedented on ground fan following in the interiors of India, which probably very few can boast off.
Akshay Kumar with his volume of releases, and the consistent ability of churning out hits after hits post 2015 makes him find a place in top 3 stars of previous decade.
It’s a tie between Aamir and Salman at CP, Mysore, Andhra Pradesh and East Punjab, however, Aamir get’s the advantage over here as the biggest grosser belongs to him. In Tamil Nadu and Kerala Aamir is the clear winner. Of the 12 key territories for Hindi films, Salman get’s the top spot in 7 of them, whereas Aamir scores over Salman in 5 of them. Though if we look at it as a tie, Salman is at the top of the race in each and ever territory of India except for Tamil Nadu. In terms of number of times, a film of theirs has appeared in top 5 of any territory, Salman tops with 40 whereas Aamir has made appearance 27 times. Interestingly, it’s a tie between Ranveer Singh and Ranbir Kapoor with 12 presence each.
While Ranbir has been consistent with Sanju all across the country, it’s a toss-up between Padmaavat and Simmba for Ranveer, from market to market. Vicky makes an appearance with URI, whereas Hrithik gets into the race with War, so does his co-star, Tiger Shroff, who get’s an upper hand due to the phenomenal performance of Baaghi 2 in Bihar and Assam. In terms of mass following, Tiger probably leads the race among all young stars.
Shah Rukh too is a lot bigger star, and has much better fan base across India than what the numbers reflect, but it’s just poor choices of films that has kept him away from the race.
Akshay has the magnitude of hits with him, however, due to lack of big grossers, he doesn’t really find a place in the list, though his standing is much higher than what these figures reflect. Same is the case with Ajay. Shah Rukh too is a lot bigger star, and has much better fan base across India than what the numbers reflect, but it’s just poor choices of films that has kept him away from the race. Below is a compiled database of top stars in the key circuits of Hindi trade.
PS: This list is based on box office numbers compiled from our sources, and factors like adjusted gross figures have been excluded to avoid conclusion. It's on the face value of figure, as they stand today.
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