STAR POWER
PART 1 – What is SUPER STARDOM?
(Article by Archit Mishra)
“Change is inevitable, growth is intentional.”
And Indian cinema has witnessed this intentional growth quite significantly over the last decade.
A balcony ticket that used to cost Rs 50, has now been replaced by a ‘Platinum’ ticket costing no less than Rs 500. A 10-rupee Samosa, now comes in a combo offer of Rs 250. The star who dominated the 90s, when a movie could be watched at a price of less than Rs 15, continue to rule the roost, but watching their films in theatre today is significantly more expensive today. In fact, quality entertainment with family and friends at a cinema hall is getting more expensive with each passing day. Booming multiplexes, war-like promotional / advertising strategies, internet, social media and cable TV, all of these factors have their bit of contribution in this growth.
This, in turn, has led to creating lot of awareness and curiosity amongst the movie going public. Today, the audience is cognizant enough to judge as to what they are going to spend 1000 bucks for over the weekend. ‘So and so film has collected 100 crore in 3 days’, ‘My superstar has broken your superstar’s record’, ‘I predict that this Diwali release shall collect 50 crores on one day’, you will find a movie critic and trade analyst in every household of India. Be it Tea-break conversation in offices, argument at Pan-Shops or News Channel debates, the Box office collections, Movie Reviews and Bollywood Fans are everywhere. Just like Cricketers, Bollywood superstars are no less than role models for the gen-next and some of them are even god-worshipped by their fanatic fans.
What is STAR-POWER or SUPER-STARDOM?
‘A’ is the mightiest star of Bollywood as he has been the most consistent over past few decades, ‘B’ is the true synonym to Superstardom as he commands the craziest fan following of all time, and ‘C’ risks his stardom with most releases every year so he is the best, this list shall go on and so can the unending debate without understanding the crux of box office model. Unfortunately, time and again, virtuous fan-following has got converted into ugly fan wars.
With this write up, our aim is to solve this enigma of Superstardom. Most of us don’t understand that there are numerous reasons other than just the lead actor which contribute to the opening day collections of a film. Genre, banner, song promos and so on. Well, according to me, if you remove all these factors, what’s left is star power.
So, the theory behind our blog is pretty simple. In layman terms, if the same story, release date, banner, co-stars, music, etc. is given to all the actors, what probably would be their respective ‘Opening Day collections’ or how much footfalls can a particular star guarantee on his might alone in the theatres? This is what I call as Superstar Power.
X-Factor
After researching the recent Bollywood trends, we’ve identified 8 most vital X-Factors that influence the first day collections of films other than the lead actor. These X- factors are listed in the below diagram.
Factors other than Star Power that can influence opening day collections of films
RULES
There are three straight-forward rules to calculate star power.
CONCEPT: Our idea for calculating the Star Power is actually to neutralize the effect of all the X-Factors. So, if an actor has an advantage in terms of any of the X-Factors, then we would subtract an amount from his opening collection based upon pre-defined criteria and vice versa. For example, if Aamir Khan has Rajkumar Hirani calling the shots behind the camera (for PK) and Salman has Sohail Khan (for Jai Ho), then Aamir has an advantage and we would subtract the Director X-Factor from PK’s opening. On the other hand Salman has a disadvantage, so he deserves addition in Director X-Factor.
FORMULA: We’ll take the sum of all the X-Factors and then simply subtract that from the First Day collections. Thus, the formula for Star Power can be depicted as below:
STAR POWER = [OPENING DAY COLLECTIONS] minus [Sum of X-Factors]
AVERAGE: Moreover, if an actor has multiple releases in a year, then we will calculate the Star Power figure corresponding to each film and then simply take an average.
NOTE:
This model is unique and one of its kind. Its study and analysis is not stagnant but a continuous process and thus we’ll be upgrading it time and again with enhanced options as per the latest trade trends.
We’re considering only the First Day collections for judging Star Power (and not First Weekend or Lifetime collections) because it is quite evident that movie reviews and word-of-mouth publicity starts affecting the film from the second day itself.
So, who is the biggest Super Star of India?
How can we calculate the above mentioned X-Factors?
What is the actual impact of X-Factors on Star Power?
Well, to get the answer to all these questions, you will have to wait for our next article in this series. The hysteria of crazy Star Power is arriving soon. Until then keep surfing.
We would love to know what you feel about our article. Also tell us what are your criterias to judge Star Power? Please do share your feedback and suggestions in the comments section below.
@indicine & Archit mishra:
I think you should consider the footfalls instead of collections of movies to judge stardom. Footfalls shows the ability of a star of bringing audiences to theaters.
Come to the X factors. I think you have missed a few very important points.
1. Budget.
2. Different languages a movie released.
3. Screen tcount.
sorry no offence to writer but this is the dumbest article i’ve read on this site
u can’t calculate STAR POWER using some formula
who is to decide so called X-factors and grade them ?
how r u going to grade directors ? there r many directors who at one point were considered hit directors but few flop films in a row and they r now flop director or vice-versa . Sajid Khan will b good eg for this . Heyy Babyy , housefull 1 and 2 he was hit director but with Himmatwala and Humshakals he is now considered a washout director .
there is ticket price factor . multiplex and single screen factor . film doing well in multiplexes will have bigger box office than film doing well in single screens.
there r many things to b considered so any formula to calculate star power will not b vaible
n 1 question which figure r u going to use ?
bcoz we all know there r manipulated box office collection
@sunny chachi:
#indicine clearly said opening day collections decides the stardom. Let’s compare both Akki & Ajay’s movie’s opening day collections (released on holiday)….
Ajay- 32cr (SR).
Akki- 13cr (gabbar).
SR collected almost 3times more than Akki’s Gabbar. Hence Ajay is much bigger star Akki. Doodh ka doodh aur paani ka paani… LOL.
Banner- mukta Arts (producers of blockbuster and superhit like Karz, karma, vidhata, saudagar, ram lakhan, khalnayak, pardes)
Actress- Katrina
Music director- AR Rehman
Director – Subhash ghai
Big canvas movie, huge production value
Result
Opening day – desastrous
Weekend – desastrous
Lifetime – desastrous
Answer – yuvraj
Same result with janeman, London dreams
@indicine read above and tell me where is director, banner, music, actress played x-factor in above mentioned movies.
It’s depend on actor’s superstardom of that perticular period.
Srk is the only superstar after amitabh bachchan who gave almost 99% time big opening irrespective of genre, period, banner, co-star music etc.
do u think if salman has done pk or 3 idiot then he would have given same opening what Amir gave. What about Talaash? Dhoom3, gajini opening.
For me considering X factor then
It should be
Fan following (without fan following u can’t give big opening)
Then phase of that actor
Remaining doesn’t matter as long as top star like srk, Amir, salman hritik Akki in the movie
For me
1. Srk (99% of time he gave bigger opening thoughout his carrier)
2. Amir (most underrated in terms of fan following and second most consistent after srk)
3. Salman (post dabaang he has matched with srk and Amir)
4. Hritik
5. Akshay (though he was 60% consistent throughout his Carrier but very rarely given record opening like sik etc)
@Indicine really superb artical! Waiting for next part. and after reading your artical it is more clear THAT ONLY KING SRK DEFINES MEGASTARDOM OR SUPERSTARDOM. Unlike SALMAN AND AAMIR WHO DEPEND ON FESTIVE RELEASE AND BIG BANNER.
SO RANKING TOP5 –
1. SRK
2. SALMAN
3. AKSHAY
4. HRITHIK
5. AAMIR
ONLY MEGASTAR SRK RULESSS…..
currently only srk and salman can
give
huge opening with flop/debut
director. both r megastar. 2* for
this article
Good article with new concepts. But it missed out on very important aspects such as “Content” and “People’s Perception” of the movie. These two factors contribute heavily to opening day figures.
starpower is when 3hr long duration movie wid flop director (faraha khan) with average music came and shatter every record by a distance yes I m talking about HNY 44.97 crore by srk
star power is when a movie with worst word of mouth did 25 cr highest single day at this time broke previous single day collection even with bad wom
star power when a star realise his movie just for 5 days open run and became HGOAT against a franchise movie CE v/s OUITM dobaara
star power when a star consistant in his whole career like srk otherwise it look like that for some year a star superstardom went for leave ;)
star power is when a star never frightened to do different gern like srk MNIK, CDI, RNBDJ, RA.ONE,DON2,JTHJ,CE movie or stick to a formula like south remake action masala copy paste
star power is when you never frightened with clash like srk unlike book festive date of 2015 to 2020 way before
No formula required every 1 knows salman and srk are the biggest superstars followed by amir and hrithik and then comes akshay ajay yes this kind of formula helps in some extent to diffrenciate a narrow gap between salman and srk, amir and hr, akshay and ajay
(2008)Ghajini – 9.5 crore
(2008)Rab Ne Banadi Jori(YRF) – 6.5 crore
(2012)Taalash – 12.7 crore
(2012)Jab Tak Hai Jaan(YRF) – 12.6 crore
(2013)Dhoom 3(YRF) – 32.4 crore
(2013)Chennai Express(Rohit Shetty) – 30.4 crore
(2009)3 Idiots(Raju Hirani) – 12.9 crore
(2010)My Name is Khan(Karan Johar+Kajol) – 8.1 crore
List should be
1. Salman
2. Aamir
3. SRK
srk is yet to give 15cr+ non holiday opener holiday pe tho ajay devgun bi 32cr ki opening di hai..so it has to.be aamir or salman..salman pre eid mein 26cr ki opening de di..amir ne pk ke 25cr wo bi non holiday..aur agar director itna hi important hai tho srk yash chopra combo 15cr ki opening kyun nahi de paya
Srk movies :
HNY, CE, JTHJ, Don 2 & Ra.One
HNY
Unfavoring : Farah Khan after TMK debacle + Average Music = 2
Favoring : Diwali release + Top heroine + Ensemble cast + Established production house (RCE) + 1 year gap from last release CE = 5
HNY = 2-5= -3 + Srk
* CE
Unfavoring : Good director but not as big as A list directors
(Please note clash or semi clash is not considered among factors Indicine has listed – not considered Bahubali vs BB as well) = 1
Favoring = Eid + Top heroine (Deepika had given YJHD before CE) + RCE + Hit music = 4
CE = 1-4 = -3 + Srk
* JTHJ
Unfavoring : Genre =1
Favoring = Yrf + Kat & Anushka (Kat was A list actress) + AR Rahman music + Yash ji’s last tribute = 4
JTHJ = 1-4 = -3 + Srk
Don 2
Unfavoring : Genre + PC (B list actress) + Poor music = 3
Favoring : Excel production + Farhan (Don was already Hit) + Christmas + Franchise = 4
Don2 = 3-4 = -1
* Ra.One
Unfavoring : Genre + Average director + Average music = 3
Favoring : Diwali + Kareena = 2
Ra.One = 3-2 =1 + Srk
Total = -10-(+1) = -9 + Srk !!!!!!!!!
excellent article ! Just a request-plz dont act as a fan rather a neutral writer
What about promotions? For example HNY was HEAVILY promoted compared to PK, Dhoom 3 or Kick.
I know Salman will top this list but deep inside feeling its not d way to findout d superstardom bcoz how could u rate a director ,franchise,production,co-star, bla bla same …..this is very much subjective & remember eid,diwali,crismax every holidays r not same….there r various factors for d collection b it promotion,b it a good trailer or b it a repeat value or may b controversy & some time manipulation …..u know what I m talking abt….so @indicine if u can cover everything then only come up with an article orelse d fan war will intensify to a new level..
@indicine sajid khan in your article was named number 40. Rohit shetty was rated 32 best directors. So it’s clear to see that movies of Sajid and Rohit works based on either franchise but the rest is the star power of the actor. So actors under them makes extra effort to command opening day like azmeen for Singh is king or Rohit for gilmaal3 or singham.
I may have missed gap release for Srk & Aamir.
Srk had 2 releases in 2011 which was a disadvantage for him so +1 = -9-(+1) = -8
Aamir had advantage of gap release for each of his listed movies -5 in case of Dhobi Ghat & -4 if Ghajini is taken (already listed) so
-1-(-5) = -6 with DG
-1-(-4) = -5 with Ghajini
Salman = +6
Srk = -8
Aamir = -6/-5
So Salman had more disadvantages than both Aamir & Srk n most of his movies have been success due to his Star power. This is solely my opinion, many may not agree with it. Thanks for reading !!!!!!!!!!!
What will you say about actors that produces their movies. I hope @isha iqbal is hearing me? She can add this to her fantastic bashing and putting to shame xteristics. Actors producing their movies not directing should also be taken note. For @sunny chadi ajays half day highest collection for opening day is 32. Akshay 15. No matter how Bollywood does their additionally and subtraction they will really be called sentimentist to rate akki above ajay. Remember the buzz d dharma brand multicast still can’t near Ajay. Sorry.
Indicine team: I totally agree with u. Banner, genre, release date, co-star, gap between releases, music, directors, franchise, all these do play a role in stardom but most of them are not X factor. 1. Trailer, good Location (Budget), Genre, Directors are the X- factors which help the superstar. Diehard fans cant never make a movie superhit cos they are very very little compared to netral audience. Superstardom acc. to me is belief of audience in the star. Audience feel that top 3 khans knows to add entertainment quotient in the movie with their experience so they trust them, In south india, directors like Shankar and SS Rajamoulis are the biggest supertars.Even SRK has lost some audience trust after Raone but he regained it with Don 2 and he have made strong comeback again with HNY cos he could give descent entertaining movie with Farah Khan who made terrible TMK. If Sharukh and Salman lose the trust of the audience then their film film cant open with even 10 crs. The recent example is Akshay and Ranbir and before Salman also gone thru similar phase.
@Hrithik plz dont show your stupid prediction/idea about MEGASTARDOM. Everyone knows that there is one and only MEGASTAR in INDIAN CINEMA AND that is SHAH RUKH KHAN. BTW why you have calculated after 2010??? As your REMAKE KING was born after 2010 ?? Lol
@ Indicine
There is one big fault in the ‘Average’ concept…!!!
If ‘A’ does 4 films in a year and each film earns 25 cr on first day
and
‘B’ does 1 film in a year which earn 28 cr on first day
Then as per your concept ‘B’ is a bigger superstar…!!!
Not logical…
A better concept will be:
Upto 2 movies: Average
3 movies: Average x 1.25
4 movies: Average x 1.5
5 movies: Average x 1.75
and so on…
Finally an article that does justice to what stardom means. I always said stardom cannot be judged based on lifetime collections but should be judged on opening day before any reviews or WOM are out. SRK has been breaking opening day records left and right since Ra One. Kick, BB, PK did not have earth-shattering opening days. And to prove the point for once and all, SRK will register a higher opening day than Kick, BB, PK on Dec 18 with a clash.
Whatever it is Joker Boy certainly doesnt have it…!
Such maths will confuse the kindergarteners as they still cant see the relevance of 177cr over 244cr bcoz as kids they dont pay taxes so its an alien concept to them…!
@Ravi…Pls I rather comment on my own. It’s not everything I find vital to include. So I would rather you don’t mention my name in yr article. 3 bay’s back some lunatics were cheaply saying all the praises I am receiving is cos I am the one writhing them in disguise. So thank u n nothing personal.
Not read your criteria as I find the Hyderabadi Mechanics criteria for Star Power more insightful n accurate. Here is Complan Boys criteria in no sensible sorry chronological order as he was busy drinking complan n changing his nappy whilst writing his nonsense sorry well researched formula…!
1- One must have Karan Arjun hit in their career. (Think he means Johar n Rampal here as bhai too starred in Karan Arjun)
2- Must do remakes of iconic legendary actors movies BADLY (think he means remaking Dilip saabs Devdas n Big Bs DON badly)
3- Must get south superstar dancing in your movie to your crappy songs (think he is confusing Rajni Sirs billboard posters in Lungi Dance as the real Superstar himself)
4- Must drink complan from coconut (erm again hes confused as it was lassi Queen was drinkking n not complan)
5- must win National Awards 15 times (wrong awards being noted once again- zero national awards but lots of filmfake awards for sure)
6- must do Realistic Classics like Jab Tak Hai Mojo n Kuch Kuch Nahin Hota (in neither movie did Queen look like a20 yr old so clearly a new eye test appointment is needed for complan boy- queen did however star in Maya Memsaab but its universally accepted that the Kamasutra was more realistic n better tbh)
7- must rule overseas kingdom as King (wrong as he has no overseas kingdom as last time I checked Paglapur was in India n hes a Queen not King)
8- must be handsome charming dashing gawjus beautiful (seriously get your eyes tested as rotten turnips are more pleasing to look at)
OK…..weird article but still, idea is good. But you should have given an example of how much can you subtract.
@Indicine : After reading it the only name which come on top & first without blinking for a second is – SRK.. since it is about opening so so let’s talk about it to make it more clear & easy for all .
Record openers
1995 till 2000 : Shah Rukh Khan – 2.. Salman Khan – 1.. Aamir Khan – 0.
2000 till 2005 : Shah Rukh Khan – 3.. Salman Khan – 0.. Aamir Khan – 0.
2005 till 2010 : Shah Rukh Khan – 3.. Salman Khan – 0.. Aamir Khan – 3.
2010 till 2015 : Shah Rukh Khan – 3 (two 100cr weekends B2B. crossed 45cr) Salman – 3. Aamir – 1.
Shah Rukh Khan
1995 – 2000 : Trimurti , Karan Arjun
2000 – 2005 : K3G , Main Hoon Na , Veer Zaara
2005 – 2010 : KANK , Om Shanti Om , RNBDJ
2010 – 2015 : Ra.1 , Chennai Express , HNY
Aamir Khan
1995 – 2000 : No record opener
2000 – 2005 : No record opener
2005 – 2010 : Fanaa , Ghajini , 3Idiots
2010 – 2015 : Dhoom 3 ..
Salman Khan
1995 – 2000 : Karan Arjun
2000 – 2005 : No record opener
2005 – 2010 : No record opener
2010 – 2015 : Dabangg , Bodyguard , ETT
Total Shah Rukh Khan’s opening records of Day one : 11 times ( including Weekend & Week Records ) . Salman Khan : 4 times and Aamir Khan : 4 . ( though Hrithik Roshan also has total 4 )
From 1995 to 2004 a whole decade opening record belonged to Shah Rukh Khan only. Trimurti released in 1995 , had first day record from 1995 to 2001 , then K3G broke the record then Main Hoon Na. so for 10 years ( one decade ) ,1995 , 96 , 97 , 98 , 99 , 2000 , 01 , 02 , 03 , 04 . Opening record belonged to SRK only. Insanity , totally unmatchable which every must agree with it . ( not even talking about overseas opening/weekend/week records ;) which is ‘double’ of this. )
Currently Shah Rukh is light years ahead of all the stars in Bollywood in terms of opening & stardom/star Power as Most opening records, Most weekend records, Most first week records all belong to SRK only so none other actor’s name can come on top except SRK only here which is fact & truth for obvious reasons. if it didn’t happen like this that would be totally unfair & untrue .
After Salman Khan and Aamir Khan was born ( 2010 ) still Shah Rukh Khan broke opening records with each and every film despite of doing original films, not a remake of huge blockbusters films & despite of doing totally different and unsafe, risky genres films with extremely poor/risky directors like Farah Khan, Anubhav Sinha even Farhan Akhtar & Karan Johar both have made uncommercial , offbeat type films with SRK which don’t suit Box Office at all except Rohit Shetty but that’s not the case for Salman Khan as he has done same genres films since 2010 which are totally safe & useful for Box office, advantage. he did just one different genre film you can say ( Veer that too in 2010 & all know the result ) which was commerical too but was not pure masala films like Dabangg – Masala film. Dabangg 2 – Masala film. Ready – Masala film. Bodyguard – Masala film. Kick – Masala film. Jai ho – Masala film. Ek tha tiger – Masala film. Bajrangi Bhaijaan – Masala film, all same & among these films half of films ( 4 ) are remakes of huge south blockbuster films which is a big advantage & not risky at all and totally safe/useful for Box Office.. and same case is for Aamir Khan he has done safe films which suit on Box office with Biggest brands, directors since 2010 like Rajkumar Hirani and Dhoom Franchise which is India’s biggest franchise & director currently still couldn’t make opening record with Rajkumar Hirani but did with Dhoom Franchise once in last 5 years ( SRK did 3 times in last 5 years even with director like Farah Khan ).. except 2 films Talaash and Dhobi Ghat which were not pure masala films which are made for box office still couldn’t make opening records and highest day record with it while SRK made opening records & non-holiday records with different, out of box office, risky genres . 1) Highest single day collection – Ra.one.. 2) Biggest non-holiday opener – Don 2.. 3) Biggest non-holiday opener even with big clash – Jab Tak Hai Jaan.. 4) broke/crushed all records from A to Z – Chennai Express.. 5) Highest first day and weekend – Happy New year . now it’s Dilwale time . now it’s cleared/proven who should , must be on top spot, on 2nd part of the article – ofco the King of B’wood aka SRK.. Thanks for reading!
Opening Shows The STARDOM. Hny did 45 cr But still a 3 hr movie with lesser shows coz of runtime got an opening of 45 CR. Just imagine the stardom? if it was 2:30 mins.. 50CR ? . in terms of star power SRK is ahead than all. no comparison.
Opening shows the strength of an actor!!!Whatever might be the fate of this film the opening day shows the strength of SRK’s stardom!!! he has to be on top. first SRK!!!