We last published our list of Top Actors in Bollywood at the beginning of the year. Since then, big films like Jai Ho, Holiday: A Solider Is Never, Kick and Singham Returns have released in theatres. Interestingly, there have been quite a few films from the younger stars who have delivered 100 crore grossers like Ek Villain and 2 States.

While the Top 5 is proving to be difficult to break into even for stars like Ajay Devgn and Akshay Kumar, it’ll be interesting to see if the likes of Ranveer Singh, Varun Dhawan,  Sidharth Malhotra and Arjun Kapoor make it to the Top 10.

We have decide to make our ranking system the most comprehensive in the industry. We will be analysing the box office collections of the Top 15 actors. The ranking system will also be divided into three; Top Actor in India, Overseas and Worldwide. The list below is for the Top 10 Actors in India i.e the domestic market only.

• The list would be based on the net box office collections of an actor’s last five movies. For younger actors, the minimum number of films is 3.
• Only lead roles would be considered. Cameos, special appearances and guest appearances won’t be taken under consideration. Non-commercial and art films like ‘Dhobi Ghat’ have also not been considered.
• Dated movies that released before 2007 have not been considered.
• Only domestic box office collections is being taken into account. Collections from all regional versions have been taken into considering as this list is for the top actors in India and regional language releases affect Hindi business in their respective states. For example, Tamil version will affect business of Hindi version in Tamilnadu / Kerala circuit.

Top Actors In Bollywood

Rank 1. The average collections of Salman Khan’s last five films has gone up from 152 cr to nearly 170 crore per film! The superstar is quite clearly way ahead of the competition in the domestic markets and has dominated the box office in India like no other actor in the history of Indian Cinema. Salman now has one 200 crore grosser (nearly two because Ek Tha Tiger collected 199 cr). His success ratio is incredible too  - all his films since Dabangg (2010) have done well. His blockbuster ratio is even better – 6 out of 7 films have been blockbusters or all time blockbusters!

His nearest rival in the domestic markets is Aamir Khan, who should beat him after the release of PK..

Rank 2. In India, the competition is quite clearly between Salman and Aamir, as the two have consistently been delivering more 150 cr+ grossers than any other stars in the country. If Rajkumar Hirani’s PK collects 157 cr or more, Aamir would nudge ahead of Salman for the first time in 3 years to take the top spot at the domestic box office. While Salman holds the record for the highest number of 150 cr+ grossers (3 of them), Aamir holds the record for highest opening day, single-day, first weekend, first week and also the fastest film to the 100 and 200 cr club. Deserves to top, doesn’t he?

Rank 3. Shahrukh Khan has a chance to beat Salman Khan and also take the top spot if ‘Happy New Year’ collects Rs 260 cr or more. His last release was Chennai Express which managed to collect 227 cr and with last year’s Diwali release amassing 244 crore net, Happy New Year has every chance to be the highest grosser of all time. The average business of his last five releases is Rs 131.8 cr.

Rank 4. Bang Bang is his big release this year, the teaser of which has generated huge buzz in the trade. While Salman and Aamir are out of his reach this year, he could topple SRK to take the 3rd spot before the release of Happy New Year. For that, Bang Bang would have to collect 175 cr or more when it releases with Haider on October 2nd 2014. Hrithik’s average per film is 106.6 cr. He is one amongst only 4 actors in the country to average 100 cr or more per film, even though two of those include disasters like Kites and Guzaarish.

Rank 5. Besharam was expected to take a good start at the box office and it did, what with the film collecting close to Rs 20 crore on its opening day. But the response was so bad that the film ended with lifetime business of less than 60 crore. It was arguably the worst received biggie of the year, as even a film like Himmatwala held up better over the weekend.

Ranbir has just one release this year Anurag Kashyap’s Bombay Velvet, which is scheduled to release in November. To beat Hrithik, his film would need to collect significantly more than Bang Bang – which is difficult because of the genre of the two films.

Rank 6: Interestingly, Ajay Devgn could beat Ranbir Kapoor and make it to the Top 5 if Singham Returns collects 157 cr or more by the end of its run. The film has collected around 101 cr in 5 days. It still has a long way to go, so for now, Ajay will be under Ranbir. If Singham collects more than 157 cr, we will update the list in the first week of September.

Assuming that Singham Returns collects around 155 cr, the collections of Ajay’s last 5 films are as follows:

• Singham Returns (155 cr expected)
• Satyagraha (62 cr)
• Himmatwala (45 cr)
• Son of Sardaar (102 cr)
• Bol Bachchan (101 cr)
• Forthcoming film: Action Jackson
• Total: 465 cr (Average per film: 93 cr)

Rank 7 Akshay Kumar: He does more than 3 films every year, yet averages 76 cr per film. Akshay has films like Gabbar, Singh Is Bling and Warrior which could take him to the Top 5. So far, he was competing with Ajay Devgn for the 6th spot, but the latter has overtaken him with the release of Singham Returns.

• Entertainment – 75 cr expected
• Holiday: A Solider Is Never Off Duty – 113 cr
• Boss – 59 cr
• Once Upon Ay Time In Mumbaai Dobaara – 63 cr
• Special 26 – 69 cr
• Fortchoming film: Gabbar
• Total Collections: 379 cr (Average per film: 75.8 cr)

Rank 8 Sidharth Malhotra: Quickly emerging as one of the most popular stars in the country, Sidharth Malhotra commands a huge following on social media websites like Twitter and Facebook. His last release, Ek Villain, was a huge success at the box office. He deserves credit even though the presence of Mohit Suri as director, Ritiesh Deshmukh and chartbuster music helped big time.

• Ek Villain - 103 cr
• Hasee Toh Phasee - 35 cr
• Student Of The Year - 70 cr
• Forthcoming film - Bhavesh Joshi
• Total Collections – 208 cr (Average per film: 69.3 cr)

Rank 9 Varun Dhawan: We said it after Main Tera Hero, we say it again. Varun is one of the most promising stars in the industry, a superstar in the making. In just 3 films, he has established himself in the industry. A film like Humpty Sharma Ki Dulhania, released 2 weeks before Salman Khan’s Kick and during the Ramadan period, has collected nearly 80 cr at the domestic box office. Huge!

• Humpty Sharma Ki Dulhania – 77 cr
• Main Tera Hero - 54 cr
• Student Of The Year - 70 cr
• Forthcoming film: Badlapur
• Total Collections – 201 cr (Average per film: 67 cr)

Rank 10 John Abraham: John is no longer a solo star. Multi-starrers like Race 2 and Housefull 2 are his biggest grossers. In an ensemble star cast like the upcoming Welcome Back, he is still a force to be reckoned with.

• Madras Café - 45 cr
• Shootout at Wadala - 62 cr
• I, Me aur Main - 9 cr
• Race 2 - 102 cr
• Housefull 2 - 114 cr
• Forthcoming film - Welcome Back
• Total Collections – 332 cr (Average per film: 66.4 cr)

Rank 11 Saif Ali Khan: Fairly popular with audience in big cities, but has absolutely no following in smaller towns. He has been consistent over the years, but relies too heavily on other factors like trailer, music and director to bring audience to theatres.

• Humshakals - 63 cr
• Bullet Raja- 36 cr
• Race 2 - 102 cr
• Cocktail - 76 cr
• Agent Vinod - 45 cr
• Forthcoming film - Happy Ending
• Total - 322 cr (Average per film: 64.4 cr)

Rank 12 Arjun Kapoor: Not quite as popular as Sidharth, Varun or Ranveer. Nor is he as charismatic as Varun or Ranveer. But Arjun has given us a few good films and more importantly he is improving with every film. An actor to watch out for!

• 2 States - 102 cr
• Gunday - 78 cr
• Aurangzeb - 23 cr
• Ishaqzaade - 49 cr
• Forthcoming film - Finding Fanny
• Total Collections - 252 cr (Average per film: 63 cr)

Rank 13 Ranveer Singh: A star who deserves to be much higher up the list, Ranveer has quickly established himself in the industry. He has a fairly good following in smaller centres too.

• Gunday – 78 cr
• Ram Leela - 109 cr
• Lootera - 31 cr
• Ladies Vs Ricky Bahl - 38 cr
• Band Baaja Baaraat - 24 cr
• Forthcoming film - Kill Dil
• Total Collections - 280 cr (Average per film: 56 cr)

Rank 14 Emraan Hashmi: A couple of years ago, Emraan threatened to compete with the likes of Ajay Devgn and Akshay Kumar, but a few poor film choices has resulted in 2 or 3 failures at the box office. We haven’t included his much-delayed film ‘Rush’ in the list. Raja Natwarlal looks very promising. Will the film be his highest grosser to date and also push him higher up the list? Time will tell.

• Ghanchakkar - 39 cr
• Ek Thi Daayan - 27 cr
• Jannat 2 - 54 cr
• Raaz 3 - 74 cr
• Shanghai - 24 cr
• Forthcoming film - Raja Natwarlal
• Total collections - 218 cr (Average per film: 43.6 cr)

Rank 15 Shahid Kapoor: The fact that Shahid Kapoor is at the bottom of the list is extremely hard to digest. He has everything to be in the Top 5 – incredible acting talent, fantastic dancing skills and he is one of the most good looking actors too. What he probably lacks is good script sense. His poor choices have let him down time and again. This year, his much-awaited release Haider is set to clash against a big film like Bang Bang.  It would need to collect a little more than Raja Natwarlal for Shahid to go one up and push Emraan to the bottom.

• R.. Rajkumar - 65 cr
• Phata Poster Nikhla Hero - 39 cr
• Teri Meri Kahaani - 29 cr
• Mausam - 33 cr
• Badmaash Company - 34 cr
• Forthcoming film - Haider
• Total Collections – 200 cr (Average per film: 40 cr)

Below we have two graphs. The first is the average collections per film, which just goes to show that the Top 5 – 6 actors are in the league of their own. Each Salman films collects more than 4 times than that of a Shahid Kapoor film. The second chart is even more staggering. Shahid would need to release 21 films to collect as much as 5 Salman films since Bodyguard (2012). The comparison between Shahid and Salman is just because one happens to top and the other is at the bottom of the list. Salman was probably not in the Top 10 before the release of Wanted, but has made one of the biggest comebacks in history. Shahid could too, who knows?

There you go then. Our most comprehensive ranking of the Top 15 stars in the industry. Even after 20 plus years, the Khans – Salman, Aamir, SRK – still dominate the industry and are by far the most dependable stars. Hrithik has always been in the Top 5 since he made his debut in 2000. He temporarily took the top spot in 2006, but was pushed back after the release of Kites and Guzaarish. Ranbir is the most popular actor amongst the newer bunch of actors who made their debut after 2006. The likes of Ranveer, Varun, Sidharth and Arjun are the stars to watch out for in the future. Akshay and Ajay will continue to churn out 3-4 films every year. Akshay has a strong lineup, Ajay has Rohit Shetty!

The list will be updated after the release of Bang Bang and Haider – most likely on the 15th of October.

Stay tuned for the two big articles though – Top Bollywood Actors in the overseas markets and the worldwide ranking. It will be interesting to see who comes out on top.

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