Is Akshay Kumar the fourth Khan?

The actor cements his place in the big league with Rustom, while Hrithik Roshan is on the verge of a write-off with Mohenjo Daro.

Almost two weeks ago, when August 15 was just round the corner, we witnessed yet another Bollywood clash. Both Akshay Kumar’s Rustom and Hrithik Roshan’s Mohenjo Daro released on the same day: August 12. By their own admission, trade analysts were sweating. This time, however, one film has clearly been the winner.

In his third hit of the year, Kumar’s Rustom has already collected a net figure of around Rs. 109 crore (countrywide) as of yesterday, according to Amul Mohan, trade expert and editor-in-chief of Super Cinema . “It’s phenomenal for a film which has released with another film [ Mohenjo Daro ] on the same day,” says Mohan. “And because of the clash, people wrote Rustom off saying it won’t cross the Rs. 100-crore mark.” With this Neeraj Pandey-produced film, Kumar has comfortably established his place in 2016’s success stories: Rustom will be his biggest hit since Rowdy Rathore and Airlift , and is expected to be the third biggest film of the year.

Taste of success

Rustom is based on the case surrounding Naval Officer K.M. Nanavati’s murder of businessman Prem Ahuja.

“There’s some interest for films based on true-life events and we’ve been seeing that recently,” says Shailesh Kapoor who helms Ormax Media, a media firm specialising in trade insights. “It creates curiosity and the film does well in specific areas where the original incident has happened.” It worked really well in multiplex markets in urban areas as opposed to single-screen locations. Mohan feels that “the movie worked because it had very good music.”

All this is unconnected with Ashutosh Gowariker’s magnum opus not faring well; that became clear within two days of both releases and it’s evident that people have gravitated towards

Rustom .

Komal Nahata, trade analyst, and editor and publisher of Film Information and host of Etc Bollywood Business says, “I don’t think the clash has caused the film to flop. Mohenjo Daro would have flopped on any other release day. It isn’t as if Rustom collected 90 per cent of the market share, and if it hadn’t been for Mohenjo Daro the film would have collected 100 per cent.” The trade analyst thinks we tend to make too much of two big films on the same day, which has happened in this case. “ Rustom is just good and Mohenjo Daro isn’t.”

Forever in the spotlight

What has helped Kumar’s ascent is his sheer volume of work. Unlike his peers who have had one film a year, Kumar has had three releases in 2016 alone. On the other hand, Roshan was last seen on the silver screen in 2014’s Bang Bang .

For Kumar, that means three times the promotions and visibility. “He’s the only actor who’s doing three to four films a year, and it gives him a lot of opportunities to diversify,” says Mohan. In fact, he’s been delivering multiple films since the beginning of his career.

And his choice has been incredibly diverse. “He’s constantly changing his graph,” adds Mohan. You can see that with Baby , Gabbar is Back and Airlift . “And he also does films like Singh is Bliing and Housefull 3 .”

This spectrum of genres leaves the actor with a diverse fan base and a dual audience to strengthen his position in the industry. Plus, “he’s smart to do this at a stage when he’s well established,” says Mohan. “Films like Special 26 encourage him to work more.”

There’s a misconception that the audience eagerly waits for an actor to release films; the wait, it seems is directly proportional to the expected footfalls. “We would always criticise Akshay Kumar for doing multiple films a year,” says Box Office India ’s editor Vajir Singh. “This year, he proved everyone wrong.” Kumar has raised the bar. “If you do multiple films — good films — people will come and watch you,” says Singh. “There’s no need to keep a year’s gap.”

All this success within the span of one year has cemented Kumar’s place in the big league. “Akshay Kumar has always been the fourth Khan since 2008-09, when he actively started doing films with newer producers and storytellers, which was not the case with other stars,” says Mohan. “He’s one of the most approachable stars in the industry.”

A step ahead, two steps back

And while Kumar has been celebrating his success, Roshan seems to have lost superstar status in the industry. After all, his last hit was Krrish 3 way back in 2013.

“ Mohenjo Daro will entail a loss about Rs. 50 crore to UTV, and Rs. 40 crore to satellite and audio companies,” says Nahata. “Roshan is a saleable star but he does very few films, one every two years. For Akshay’s every six films, we’ve got one or two Hrithik films.”

“I feel people couldn’t connect to Mohenjo Daro ,” says Mohan. “There’s no historical factor, it’s fictional.”

As of yesterday, Roshan’s film, according to the trade analyst, has earned a paltry net figure of Rs. 54 crore (approximately) in India. “The film was always on the backfoot,” says Kapoor.

“The trailer didn’t get a good response, but it wasn’t a comment on Akshay being a bigger star. It’s also the whole marketing of the film and there was no intrigue to see a period film.” After all, Roshan is one of the premier actors in the industry and he has a tremendous fan following. “If he churns out movies quicker, the audience will engage with him faster,” says Mohan. “Right now, people are writing him off.”

But there are those of the opinion that one or two flops can take Roshan back a few steps, but not finish his career. “He’s made a few mistakes but he’s always bounced back,” says Singh. For instance, his trajectory shows that Mission Kashmir (2000) was average, then Yaadein (2001) didn’t do so well and neither did Mujhse Dosti Karoge! and Main Prem Ki Diwani Hoon . But then Roshan came back with a bang with Koi Mil Gaya . “I don’t think the failure of Mohenjo Daro can make a dent to the superstar that he is,” says Singh.

Roshan will be seen next in Kaabil by Sanjay Gupta, slated for a release in 2017. So the comeback might be closer than we imagined. But for now let’s wait and watch.