The Decade Power: Hrithik Roshan’s supremacy in action and the untapped stardom potential

This decade saw the rise and fall of the biggest stalwarts from the industry. While a lot has been spoken about the star-power of the actors, here's a series that analysis in-depth the strengths and weaknesses of the top 10 Bollywood stars, and ranks them based on their performance this decade taking into account factors like magnitude of success, opening day collections, consistency, potential, awareness, and loyal fan following. The one who scores high on all the fronts will be crowned the STAR OF THIS DECADE.

Number 7 on the list is Hrithik Roshan and here's a report card at how he fared between 2010 and 2019.

The start of this millennium marked the acting debut of Hrithik Roshan and ever since the release of Kaho Na Pyaar Hai (2000), he is being touted as THE SUPERSTAR of Hindi film industry. Last decade, Hrithik was the sole competitor to Shah Rukh Khan, who was the number one star. He concluded the last decade with a release in 2008, Jodhaa Akbar and his first release of this decade was Kites.  The film was arriving with ample of pre-release hype as it marked Hrithik’s return to the big screen after a two year break. The film started with a bang as it took a roaring start at the box-office however, the actor was let down by the content and the film down like a house of cards post the opening day. It flopped at the box-office and it was definitely not the start to the decade that Hrithik wanted. Kites was followed by Guzaarish, a film that won him a critical acclaim but a resounding flop in his filmography.

Two failures, though a set-back, never quite affected the stardom of Hrithik, as ever since his debut he has been the only true blue SUPERSTAR with fan following that spreads across the nation just like two Khans, Salman and Shah Rukh. A year later, he returned to the big screen with Zoya Akhtar’s slice of life film, Zindagi Na Milegi Doobara and it proved to be a much needed success for Hrithik. A film like ZNMD wouldn’t have reached out to the audience that it did with the presence of star like Hrithik Roshan and Katrina Kaif. It was just about a decent opener, but the word of mouth came into picture resulting in a good lifetime total. But well, none of the three releases really did justice to the stardom of Hrithik Roshan. Yes, he won the acclaim and yes, one of the releases was even a success but a person like Hrithik is meant to attain bigger goals. It was Karan Malhotra’s Agneepath that got Hrithik in an out and out commercial space with action and drama. The film proved to be a record opener and also the first Rs. 100 crore grosser for Hrithik. This was followed by Krrish 3, which recorded the BIGGEST single day collection at that point of time on Monday, which was the post Diwali day. The film’s release pattern was similar to this year’s Diwali release, Housefull 4, however, the opening day as well as the post Diwali day collections were on-par with/better than the Akshay Kumar film back in 2013 with lower ticket rates, which again proves his reach and capacity to pull the audience in cinema hall. It was a blockbuster and one of the highest grossing films at that point of time

With back to back successes, Hrithik was on a high and his next, Bang Bang with Katrina Kaif was releasing with never seen before hype. Despite a clash with Haider, it took a bumper start due to the power of Hrithik Roshan in the action genre however the lifetime collections were  a bit underwhelming due to the below par content. None the less, Hrithik plus action resulted in a Rs. 150 crore grosser, which was a decent result.

2010 – 2015

2010: Rs. 78.59 crore (2 Films)

2011: Rs. 90 crore (1 Film)

2012: Rs. 115 crore (1 Film)

2013: Rs. 245.21 crore (1 Film)

2014: Rs. 181.03 crore (1 Film)

2015:

2016 – 2019

The first half of decade was quite decent for Hrithik particularly towards the end with three excellent openers and four successes in the form of Zindagi Na Milegi Doobara, Agneepath, Krrish 3 and Bang Bang. Just like the first half of this decade, his start in the second half was also bad or rather, very bad. It took near 2 years for him to come up with Mohenjo Daro, which was an epic disaster. In the same phase, his personal life was entangled in controversies, acting a set-back to his image among the audience. The period saga was a poor opener, and Hrithik losing a clash against Akshay Kumar’s Rustom, turned the tables with questions being raised on HR’s stardom. This was followed by Kaabil, which was again a below par opener and an average grosser. The action thriller was pitched against Shah Rukh Khan’s Raees and lost the game against the film. Two back to back failures with personal life under mess made the naysayers write him off.  After Kaabil, the actor took a break of over 2 years for his next, a small budget film, Super 30, which saw him play the character of mathematician Anand Kumar. The film released with below par pre-release buzz and hence, even the opening day collections were not upto the mark. However, once the word of mouth started flowing in, the audience that was devoid of seeing Hrithik Roshan on the big screen for over 4 years came in large numbers on Sunday, which took the third day collections of the film over Rs. 20 crore. Mind you, only a superstar can make a content film cross the Rs. 20 crore mark, as there’s an audience willing to pay for the superstar, provided he does the right film. Super 30 gave Hrithik the much needed visibility and credibility which helped his next release, War.

The YRF film shattered all major records, as it proved to be the biggest opener of all time. Yes, War was a two hero film, but one can’t deny the fact that Hrithik has a much bigger pull among the audience as compared to Tiger, which pushed the envelope of the film further as far as the box-office collections are concerned. He ended the decade on a high with two back to back successes.

2016:

2017: Rs. 58 crore (1 Film)

2018: Rs. 103.84 crore (1 Film)

2019: Rs. 463.85 crore (2 Films)

The number crunching analysis:

Hrithik has always been a big crowd puller, and him in the action genre is an unbeatable combo. Potentially, he is the biggest superstar India has seen after Salman Khan and Shah Rukh Khan, however, his poor script sense, and taking long breaks between films is a set-back for him. In-fact, taking long breaks isn’t an issue but taking the breaks and coming up with below par content is something that dilutes the star-power and visibility. Whenever Hrithik has come up with the right film, he has shattered the opening day records, which is something only superstars can do. A good opening is a sign of stardom, while lifetime collections are boosted by the content. A superstar can make content films reach the pinnacle by enhancing the reach, and that’s exactly what Hrithik can do. His stardom is unexplored, and he can easily dominate the box-office like no one else given the right planning and right scripts.

Where does Hrithik go from here:

Ideally, Hrithik Roshan should sign on for action films at regular interval, as he is the only star at present who can pull off both the stylish as well as the RAW action film with utmost conviction. With age by his side, he can probably do more of action and keep the cinema, that’s not physically exhausting for later stage of his career. He has the looks to die for, the physique and body language every Indian aspires to have, why not utilize it by sufficing the needs of audience. Of course, art of balancing is essential, but all that we expect is him signing on for big action films at regular interval thereby keeping his action star image intact. An action film every two years in the coming decade will easily enable him to dominate the 10 years and be the star of the decade as there isn’t really any sort of competition for him when it comes to RAW STAR-POWER among the audience of this genre.

Final summary at a glance:

Total collections: Rs. 1335.52 crore

Total Films: 10 Films

Average/Film: Rs. 133.50 crore

Also Read: “Professionally, it has been a celebratory year” – shares Hrithik Roshan on success of Super 30 and War

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