We're down to our last big hope of 2016 - Aamir Khan's Dangal. Ever since the two huge Diwali releases - from names as popular as Karan Johar and Ajay Devgn - failed to match up to expectations, the box office has been sulking. Even Shah Rukh Khan couldn't set it on fire although the Alia Bhatt-starrer Dear Zindagi benefited from his brief presence in it. Which brings me to the magical element of superstardom that does not vanish with either a couple of flops or a handful of indiscreet statements.

Take the craze for Shah Rukh Khan. I was in a hotel lobby in Dubai years ago, when the place suddenly looked like a war zone with a sea of gun-toting guards and cops taking up every inch of floor space. Before one could comprehend what was going on, the sea parted and Shah Rukh strode in. There I was, smack in the middle, still clueless about the fuss, when Shah Rukh walked up, gave me the customary bear hug, greeted me with warmth and disappeared. The sea followed him.

The sea still follows him, a Fan here and there can't dent that craze. At the Coldplay concert in Mumbai last month, where even Ratan Tata got a cold response, it was Shah Rukh Khan alone who had the crowds under his spell. Sachin Tendulkar was perhaps the only other celebrity to get a rousing welcome from the audience. But it was a sole Shah Rukh who could manage the crowds even when they got restless with a Freida Pinto who lost her cool and threatened to ask Coldplay not to play for them. Chivalrous as always, Shah Rukh came to her rescue and did some quick fire-fighting by dimpling that she didn't really mean that. And the crowds were happy to have him talk to them.

Alia Bhatt and Gauri Shinde benefited from that luminosity when a well-intentioned but shabbily-handled Dear Zindagi brought SRK's loyal NRI and multiplex audience into the theatres. If it couldn't grow into a blockbuster it was because the film was intrinsically flawed and not because Shah Rukh's magic had waned. In fact, the healthy opening of Dear Zindagi and the growing curiosity over his Raees (which fans know is not spanking new but was put in cold storage for over six months) are proof that the pull of SRK is intact.

This is despite the ignorable percentage that took umbrage to his intolerance remarks on his 50th birthday one year ago. Which again is evidence that what ultimately matters is only what the audience sees on the screen. The fate of a film is not decided by off-screen utterances nor do fans hold a grudge for long.

That holds true for Aamir Khan too, as only a slim minority seems to recall his "wife wondered if we should move out of India" statement, and an overwhelming majority awaits Dangal. The audience knows that Aamir usually delivers. He doesn't do a con job on them by promising them substantial entertainment in the multi-crore pre-release marketing, solely to register a hefty opening weekend figure. And then cheating them with a weak film like Salman Khan did with Prem Ratan Dhan Payo (PRDP ).

But again, the magic of stardom prevailed as, despite what Salman did, his fan base didn't erode. They returned, even swelling in numbers, to welcome Sultan . Fortunately, Sultan wasn't a con job à la PRDP , so the collections grew. Displaying their usual short-term memory, loyalists quickly forgot PRDP and certainly didn't hold it against him.

The craze for Salman, too, remains undiminished. Years ago, when he had come to release a book of mine at Sun-n-Sand, one was astonished to learn that waves of people had gathered outside for a glimpse of him and there was a roar when he entered the hotel. Nobody else got that kind of reception from the public that day.

Years later, it has remained. When Sultan was released this year, the crowds had, in fact, increased as Salman and his dad Salim Khan stood at a window upstairs and watched the frenzy at the ticket counters of a Bandra theatre. It's a visual that would gladden the heart of any father.

Aamir may not cause tidal waves on the roads like Shah Rukh and Salman do but his fans too have stayed loyal. They haven't disappeared after the "leave the country" remark as it's his cinema, his star appeal and the sincerity he brings to a project that count for them. And so, they await Dangal with bated breath. Will it bring the much-needed cheer to the box office? This time next week, we'll know for sure.

Bharathi S. Pradhan is a senior journalist and author