Maryam Farooqui Moneycontrol News
Tales of his success are being narrated beyond borders and the Indian film industry is assured of getting its regular dose of quality content from him and television too has got a taste of this actor’s style of working.
With a career spanning over three decades, this star seems to be unstoppable and on his 53rd birthday Aamir Khan is all set to entertain the audience with a multi-starrer project called "Thugs of Hindostan".
While the Khans of Bollywood rule the Indian film industry, not all of them have been able to keep up with the numbers game. Be it Shah Rukh Khan or Salman, both witnessed disappointing collections last year from films like "Jab Harry Met Sejal" and "Tubelight". But Aamir has walked a consistent path with films like "3 Idiots", "PK" and "Secret Superstar", but it was the wrestling drama "Dangal" that raised the bar for the industry in terms of both business and content.
Khan’s film graph in the last 10 years shows that he is a brand that Bollywood can trust with five of his movies being the highest grossers of all time.
It all started with "Ghajini" (2008) and ever since, Aamir’s box office domination has become tougher to compete with. The actor’s tremendous physical transformation left his audience in awe and the so called "Ghajini" hairstyle became the talk of town at the time. And so did the film’s box office collection as it was the first Bollywood film to make an entry in the much coveted Rs 100-crore club as the film earned close to Rs 114 crore, shattering the record set by Dhoom 2 of Rs 81 crore.
The record-breaking collections two of his films, Dangal and Secret Superstar, saw in China has been making headlines but the success story began with 3 Idiots. And post Dangal’s release, the neighbouring country has become one of the most important markets for the Indian film industry.
Dangal managed to go cross the business of the magnum opus "Baahubali 2: The Conclusion" because of collections in the Chinese market and ended its dream run with a business of around Rs 2,000 crore globally. But "Secret Superstar", which did not generate the big bucks in India, received a warm welcome in China as started its innings with Rs 43.35 crore much more than that of "Dangal" on opening day.
Aamir uses another trick to keep the cash registers ringing and releases his films during the Christmas break. From "Taare Zameen Par" to "Dangal", many of his movies have rolled out in December. While his 2014 film "PK" that earned Rs 337 crore is the third highest grossing film of all time, "Dangal" stands second on the list with collections worth Rs 374 crore. And in 2018, audiences will again have to wait until Christmas to watch the star on the big screen in "Thugs of Hindostan".
From rank 14 in 2016 to entering the top 10 club and taking the 6th spot in 2017 Forbes' India Celebrity 100 rich list, Aamir has made a huge jump this year and added Rs 68.75 crore in his kitty . And what could further fill his pockets is that he is likely to receive royalties from the earnings of "Secret Superstar" unlike "Dangal" as the Chinese government has granted the film the coveted revenue-sharing slot. The country gives out only 34 such slots for foreign films in a year and "Dangal" could not make the cut last year. If a film gets this slot then the producer of the film gets a cut of the film's China gross. According to a report, Aamir is likely to get more than USD 25 million from "Secret Superstar".
But what would be more interesting for his fans is that the actor is contemplating on spending all his time on a movie franchise for the next 10 years and is looking at creating an Aamir Khan cinematic universe.
The industry yet hasn’t seen any actor pull off such an act, but Aamir is known to take risks. And that is evident not only through his film choices but also via his television debut of "Satya Meva Jayate", the show earned high TRPs, which came as a surprise to many.
The road to success in Bollywood is not an easy one, but it seems like Aamir has found a formula — re-invent, experiment and ensure you have strong content.
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