Q: Who is Bollywood’s Hero No 1? — We get this question in our mailbox way too often and the frequency has only increased as 2014 came to an end.
A: While we are not too sure if ‘Hero No 1’ means the best performance or the most dominant actor of 2014, we’d like to believe it is the latter. As far as star-power goes, all the three Khans are right up there. If Aamir Khan has delivered the biggest grosser of 2014, he was also helped by the fact that PK was directed by the best director in the industry – Rajkumar Hirani. Also the content of his films is in a different league altogether.
Shahrukh on the other hand, delivered the biggest opening day and single-day in the history of Indian Cinema. Star-power is more about opening numbers than lifetime collections. Factors like Diwali holiday (possibly the biggest day at the box office) and the presence of Deepika Padukone also helped.
And finally, Salman Khan. He doesn’t need much, does he? Jacqueline Fernandes wasn’t a top actress, Sajid Nadiwadala was a debutant, Kick released during the Ramadan period on a non-holiday, had lower ticket prices than PK and in terms of footfalls (number of ticket sold), KICK was way ahead of PK. At smaller centres, his fan-following is unmatched. Even some of his trashy films like Jai Ho, which poor production values, manages to cross the 100 crore mark. Salman is a true-blue superstar, probably comparable to Rajinkanth when it comes to craze with the masses of the country.
It’s too close to call between the three stars, but we’d go with Aamir as the ‘Hero No 1’ of 2014. For his script-sense, conviction and the blind faith that the audience has in his films.
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Give Shahid hid due – he was the best this year
ya i agree with u indicine but not completely bcz i think Aamir is all time no.1 hero after 90s
I don’t normally post on these articles/items or any Bollywood articles for that matter. I am too old for such debates but it is appalling that I see this kind of dishonest commentary every now and then. There was another post at BOI this week trying to justify how is Salman’s Kick had the best opening of the year 2014 due to a twisted formula, the writer pulled out of his you know where.
If Aamir’s 4th ATBB since 2008 is a fluke what is not? Certain people in media still keep ignoring Aamir’s achievements for their own peril. Shahrukh hasn’t had a decent hit since Rab Ne. Salman is riding high at the moment but will pass if he does not diversify. I am a big fan of his but I know he cannot do the above for a couple of reasons. One, he is not capable enough to take his movies seriously to add any artistic value. In fact this is exactly why I actually like him. The attitude. Kind of reminds me of Govinda. Two, his loyal base will not accept him. Which is why a movie like Jai Ho which is only tad off from his normal genre didn’t work even though it is to a larger extent a massy subject. Shahrukh works on his image more than his movies. He likes to manufacture his superstardom than work toward it. I doubt if he has the energy and dedication to make a good movie any more. He seem to be looking for shortcuts even though i believe he is much more capable than Salman.
I see these articles show up, every time an Aamir film goes big and re-defines hindi film industry, and discuss in lengths about how he did not do what he did at that moment. Every time Aamir’s movie releases, the argument is about how the movie is not as great as some X, Y and Z. Where as for an SRK or SK movie its about how much it is collected. Typical arguments against Aamir are that, he does not have loyal fans, his stardom is not as great as SRK, Salman or Hritik, he needs scripts for movies to become hits or he needs holidays.. on and on. Certain fans were even arguing about how Dhoom 3 is a big hit because of Hritik. The amusing part here is that Hritik himself cannot get his own movie to make 180 cr (K3, BB) but he can get someone else to make 280 cr. Dhoom brand can only make the movie run for a couple of days or the weekend but not more. All this is vile and can be refuted taken one point at a time but thats for another day.
One thing I can tell is that Aamir has garnered so much prestige since Lagaan days with every movie, that people turn out for his movies who normally aren’t as excited about everyday bollywood movie in general. Most of his fans are a silent majority, who don’t go and bombard internet sites, or twitters, or facebooks of the world. They just show up for the movies because of the trust they have in Aamir. They expect something different and fine quality each time. Sometimes they work sometimes they don’t. But there is always a conscious effort from the star to make a better movie each time.
When Aamir was delivering Lagaan, RDB, DCH, Fanaa, Sarfarosh, TZP etc certain section of the film media and fan boys of certain stars thought he was harmless and doing his thing etc. But when Aamir used his prestige in the form of capital for a massy Ghajini, it showed the industry his true potential and changed the definition of box-office success. Ever since, he mixed up big and small projects effortlessly gained critical and commercial success with ease and built more prestige. This is a lot of concern for the fans of other stars who are trying to willfully ignore Aamir and undermine his mainstream achievements.
Due to this prestige factor, contrary to this article and similar others, Aamir had so many opening records since Lagaan in every genre if you dare to compare apples to apples. Mangal Pandey broke every opening record (First Weekend and First Week), RDB, Ghajini, 3 Idiots, Dhoom 3 etc had opening records. I will be glad to see SRK or Salman or Hritik do such variety once in a while. That will perhaps change the direction of hindi movies for better. At least as of now, none of the top stars have patience or artistic instincts or cinematic knowledge to make a good concept(or script) better like Aamir at the moment.Their fan base might reject them initially but history will judge them fairly. Otherwise they will be referred in the footnotes. None of the recent movies they made have any lasting value, ten or twenty years down the line.
@sss : You and your entire clan cannot be compare to Salman’s foot !!!!!!!!!!!! If Srk is no. 1 why is he struggling to give highest grosser of year for not 1 or 2 years but 7 years ? Why his most movies in past are just Hits (Except CE). Why count only flops of Aamir or Salman why not Srk flops ? After DDLJ, he gave epic failures in Trimurti and ODYHI, Sunny Deol thrashed him in clash in 2000. Despite getting best critics reviews Swades still a Flop, why ?
Totally agree with u indicine that Aamir is no. 1 actor first time i fully agree with indicine Aamir is the real king of bollywood as well as boxoffice too
good article
i totally disagree….none of da above actors deserve to handle the title of hero no.1……
its akshay kumar only……..his multitalented…..
salman khan no 1