While Akshay Kumar has hit it out of the park in 2019 with four consecutive successes (Kesari, Mission Mangal, Housefull 4 and Good Newwz), Hrithik Roshan (with Super 30 and War), Salman Khan (Bharat and Dabangg 3) and Ajay Devgn (Total Dhamaal and De De Pyaar De) have also scored quite well.
Though the success of their films may have been varied, the fact is that each one of them has had 100 percent record at the theatres. These are veteran actors who had at least a couple of releases each.
While the seniors have played their part well, relative newcomers too have managed to make their mark. They are Tiger Shroff, Ayushmann Khurrana, Kartik Aaryan and Vicky Kaushal. Let's take a look at how each one of them performed at the box office in 2019:
Tiger Shroff: Rs 391 crore (War – Rs 318 crore, Student of the Year 2 - Rs 73 crore)
Two releases and two successes -- this is how Tiger Shroff's report card looks like. After last year's Baaghi 3, stakes were quite high for Shroff's subsequent releases. Though Student of the Year 2 did not turn out to be a bonafide hit, it managed to make an initial impact and then hung on, to cross the lifetime collections of Student of the Year. Of course, Shroff deserved better and he struck huge with War which is the highest grosser of 2019. He had a complex double role to play while being a hero as well as a villain -- and impressed immensely in both the parts.
Ayushmann Khurrana: Rs 324.7 crore (Dream Girl – Rs 142.2 crore, Bala – Rs 117 crore, Article 15 – Rs 65.4 crore)
Yet another year, yet another barrage of hits from Ayushmann Khurrana. For the last couple of years Khurrana has been scoring back-to-back hits, case in point being Bareilly Ki Barfi and Shubh Mangal Savdhan (2017), and Andhadhun and Badhaai Ho (2018). Year 2019 turned out to be even better for the versatile actor as he scored a hat-trick of hits/superhits with Article 15, Dream Girl and Bala. The man with a golden touch, when it comes to his script sense, Khurrana is already being looked at as the Aamir Khan of the current era.
Kartik Aaryan: Rs 185 crore (Luka Chuppi – Rs 95 crore, Pati Patni aur Woh – Rs 90 crore (expected))
It was about time that Kartik Aaryan was acknowledged for the kind of mass pull he comes with and that was evidenced in abundance in 2019. Though he has to his name big successes like Sonu Ke Titu Ki Sweety and Pyaar Ka Punchnama 2, the idea was to expand his fan base in the time to come. This is what he did quite well in 2019 when he first won over the family audiences with Luka Chuppi and then enticed them to come in hordes with the release of Pati Patni aur Woh. Both films were huge hits and managed to cross Rs 100 crore worldwide.
Vicky Kaushal: Rs 244.2 crore (Uri - The Surgical Strike)
Though he had just one release in 2019, it was huge enough for Vicky Kaushal to warrant a place among the relative newcomers who impressed the most. Not many would have given Uri - The Surgical Strike any chance to go beyond the Rs 50-crore mark. However, his film did almost five times that business owing to an out and out positive word of mouth that helped the cause. His cry of 'How'z the Josh' was vibrant enough to result in many a winning slogan and soon, Kaushal turned out to be a name to reckon with.
(Joginder Tuteja is a trade expert and film critic. Views are personal)
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