Salman Khan’s Bodyguard is changing the mathematics. again. here’s listing the top 10 bolly grossers at the domestic box office in terms of sheer numbers.
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3 IDIOTS
Released on: December 25, 2009.
Budget: Rs 35 crore.
Box-office earnings: Rs 202 crore. 3 Idiots is the biggest box-office grosser ever in the history of Hindi cinema.
Cast: Aamir Khan, Kareena Kapoor, R. Madhavan, Sharman Joshi, Boman Irani, Omi Vaidya.
Directed by: Rajkumar Hirani.
What it’s about: ‘Loosely’ adapted from Chetan Bhagat’s Five Point Someone, this is a story set in an engineering institute and how a new free-spirited student completely changes the way education — and indeed life — is looked upon.The hype: Turned down by Shah Rukh Khan — he wanted to produce the film himself — Hirani and producer Vinod Chopra went to Aamir Khan who made the movie a milestone with his innovative marketing methods. Aamir travelled to metros and towns in disguise and had the country hooked to his trail.
Why it worked: Feel-good, grandly mounted and well-acted, this was the perfect festive film during the Christmas-New Year period. The Chopra-Bhagat fight added fuel to the fire as Aal izz well became the buzzword and 3 Idiots piled on the crores.
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BODYGUARD
Released on: August 31, 2011.
Budget: Rs 60 crore.
Box-office earnings: Rs 105.5 crore in the first eight days (till Wednesday). Yes, by the time you read this, Bodyguard might have moved up in this list. Where will it end up? Your guess is as good as ours.
Cast: Salman Khan, Kareena Kapoor, Raj Babbar, Hazel Keech, Mahesh Manjrekar.
Directed by: Siddique.
What it’s about: Remake of the Malayalam Bodyguard, it’s about a bodyguard Lovely Singh (Salman), who falls in love with a voice on the phone, which is actually Divya’s (Kareena), the girl he is guarding.
The hype: The Salman mania continues. Within a couple of months of Ready’s runaway success, Bodyguard’s marketing onslaught was launched with Desi beats and I love you being the hot tracks.
Why it worked: Salman. Salman. Salman. It was the worst film of his big four — Wanted, Dabangg, Ready and Bodyguard — and yet the crowds went crazy on Id, Ganesh Puja and the festive weekend.
DABANGG
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Released on: September 10, 2010.
Budget: Rs 42 crore.
Box-office earnings: Rs 145 crore. The Salman Khan starrer was the highest opening day grosser and the highest opening weekend grosser of all time — till Sallu the Bodyguard smashed those records last week.
Cast: Salman Khan, Sonakshi Sinha, Arbaaz Khan, Sonu Sood.
Directed by: Abhinav Kashyap.
What it’s about: The inimitable Chulbul Pandey is a rowdy and crooked cop, the self-proclaimed Robin Hood of his town dealing with the thug Chedi Singh and romancing the beautiful Rajo.
The hype: After Wanted’s success, Salman’s popularity was already
sky-high when the fun-and-fists Dabangg promos surfaced. And Munni badnaam hui, the item number picturised on Malaika Arora Khan, became something of a national anthem.
Why it worked: An original script tailored to suit Salman Khan to the T brought out the best in the superstar. Sonakshi made a crackling debut. The ceetee-inducing dialogues became a rage.
SINGHAM
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Released on: July 22, 2011.
Budget: Rs 25 crore.
Box-office earnings: Rs 100 crore. Another Ajay Devgn film. Another Rohit Shetty film. And incredibly, Shetty is the only director to have two films on this richie-rich list!
Cast: Ajay Devgn, Kajal Aggarwal, Prakash Raj, Ashok Saraf, Sachin Khedekar, Sonali Kulkarni.
Directed by: Rohit Shetty.
What it’s about: Remake of the 2010 Tamil blockbuster Singam, it is about an honest cop and a powerful extortionist and how they play a cat-and-mouse game first in the village and then in the city.
The hype: Trying to reprise the kind of box-office dhamaka Salman’s action image had done, Shetty and Devgn designed the marketing campaign of Singham on similar lines. Just beat it.
Why it worked: Although archaic in concept and treatment, a
no-nonsense Ajay Devgn won the day for Singham with the
formulaic action set-pieces being lapped up by the masses.
READY
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Released on: June 3, 2011.
Budget: Rs 40 crore.
Box-office earnings: Rs 120 crore. Salman again. His first release after Dabangg was bound to open HUGE and so it did. Despite bad reviews, the film didn’t fizzle out in a hurry. It made Rs 68 crore in the first week and the rest in the weeks that followed.
Cast: Salman Khan, Asin, Paresh Rawal, Mahesh Manjrekar.
Directed by: Anees Bazmee.
What it’s about: Salman plays Prem, a chartered accountant, who falls in love with Asin’s Sanjanna, an orphan with greedy feuding uncles. Prem has to oust the baddies and take home the bride.
The hype: Dhinka chika dhinka chika was the new Munni badnaam hui as everyone waited for Ready, the big post-IPL release. The brand of Bazmee, who made No Entry and Welcome, helped.
Why it worked: Salman’s popularity reached new heights as the quality of the film became immaterial. With all boxes — Salman the fighter, Salman the dancer, Salman the lover — ticked off, the fans made sure they were ready.
RAAJNEETI
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Released on: June 4, 2010.
Budget: Rs 60 crore.
Box-office earnings: Rs 92 crore.
Cast: Ajay Devgn, Nana Patekar, Ranbir Kapoor, Katrina Kaif, Arjun Rampal, Manoj Bajpai, Sarah Thompson.
Directed by: Prakash Jha.
What it’s about: Mahabharata meets The Godfather in India’s current political climate. It’s the story of two brothers and how their next generation launches an all-out war for political power.
The hype: The project became hot for many reasons. Some were curious about the Ranbir-Katrina pairing, some with the return of the Devgn-Jha combo, some with the huge ensemble cast. But perhaps the most alluring element was Katrina as the embodiment of a Gandhi badhu.
Why it worked: A terrific script that did justice to almost all characters and brilliant performances by almost all the actors made Raajneeti an offer difficult to refuse.
GHAJINI
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Released on: December 25, 2008.
Budget: Rs 50 crore.
Box-office earnings: Rs 115 crore. Ghajini became the first film to cross Rs 100 crore at the domestic box office. And given that it all happened in 2008-09 makes the figures all the more mammoth.
Cast: Aamir Khan, Asin, Jiah Khan, Pradeep Rawat.
Directed by: A.R. Murugadoss.
What it’s about: Officially the remake of the Tamil Ghajini. Unofficially a copy of Christopher Nolan’s Memento. Aamir plays Sanjay Singhania a biz baron who is bludgeoned in the head by Ghajini the villain, making him a victim of short term memory loss. He has to fight all odds to avenge the killing of his girlfriend, played by Asin.
The hype: Aamir flaunted his new pumped-up body and haircut and even played barber to fans to push his new film. That it came days after Shah Rukh’s Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi made Ghajini even hotter.
Why it worked: Aamir doing an all-out masala film with full-on action and song-and-dance was a sight for sore eyes for the audience. Asin’s fresh face — and act — was loved.
RAB NE BANA DI JODI
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Released on: December 12, 2008.
Budget: Rs 22 crore.
Box-office earnings: Rs 87 crore. The only SRK movie on the moneyspinner list.
Cast: Shah Rukh Khan, Anushka Sharma, Vinay Pathak.
Directed by: Aditya Chopra.
What it’s about: Shah Rukh Khan is Raj by day and Suri by night to make his estranged newly-wed Taani fall in love with him. As Raj he is her dancing partner trying to win a talent hunt show and in the process win her heart for Suri.
The hype: Aditya Chopra’s first film after 2001’s Mohabbatein. Also, Chopra and Shah Rukh made Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge together, upping the expectation levels.
Why it worked: The innocent charm of the love story between Suri and Taani made hearts melt as Shah Rukh appeared as the gawky everyman for the first time. New girl Anushka made an instant impact.
GOLMAAL 3
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Released on: November 5, 2010.
Budget: Rs 40 crore.
Box-office earnings: Rs 108 crore. The most successful sequel in Bolly land. Also, the highest non-Khan grosser.
Cast: Ajay Devgn, Kareena Kapoor, Arshad Warsi, Tusshar Kapoor, Shreyas Talpade, Kunal Khemu, Mithun Chakraborty.
Directed by: Rohit Shetty.
What it’s about: Follow-up to the successful Golmaal 2, this one’s another set of crazy antics in the lives of Gopal, Madhav and Lucky.
The hype: The Diwali release of 2010, Shetty wanted to cash in on the success of the first two Golmaal films and make it even bigger. “Clean family entertainment” was the key tag.
Why it worked: Despite the negative reviews, Golmaal 3 managed to make the audiences laugh out loud at the theatres and the makers laugh all the way to the bank. Mithun’s Disco Dancer act was an item song in itself.
DHOOM:2
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Released on: November 24, 2006.
Budget: Rs 35 crore.
Box-office earnings: Rs 80 crore. The oldest film on this list!
Cast: Hrithik Roshan, Aishwarya Rai, Abhishek Bachchan, Uday Chopra, Bipasha Basu.
Directed by: Sanjay Gadhvi.
What it’s about: A master thief Mr A (Hrithik) is on the run as the cop-chor duo of Jai (Abhishek) and Ali (Uday) chase him across the country and then in Brazil. Mr A’s beautiful protege Sunehri (Ash) makes the dish even more delectable.
The hype: After the success of Dhoom, Yash Raj Films made the sequel bigger by casting Hrithik and Ash as the good-looking (sorry, great-looking) baddies. The foot-tapping theme returned.
Why it worked: Great locales, stars in designer clothes, terrific action set-pieces and the Hrithik-Ash chemistry made Dhoom:2 a helluva ride at the Bollywood movie theatres.
