THEIR HIGHEST GROSSER EVER

Rishabh Suri

The year 2019 has turned out to be one of the best years in Hindi cinema’s history, and add to that, most A-listers have got the highest grossing films of their entire careers this year too! Yes, right from Hrithik Roshan, Shahid Kapoor and Akshay Kumar — each has delivered the best film of their careers in terms of numbers.

Hrithik and Tiger Shroff’s face-off in War struck gold, and has entered the ₹300-crore club. When asked what clicked with the audience, Hrithik says, “It is always a combination of things. It could be the story, the stylised action, the scale of the film, the treatment given to it or something else. It’s very subjective. After every film, it’s good to understand what has worked, and if it hasn’t, then what hasn’t.”

Cinema owners are of the opinion that all of these films had one thing in common — they were ‘paisa-vasool’. Manoj Desai, executive director, G7 multiplex and Maratha Mandir cinema, reveals, “The public appreciated each of these, especially War. Two-three songs created havoc, especially Jai Jai Shiv Shankar.”

Shahid’s Kabir Singh sprung a surprise on everyone. The numbers it made put Shahid back into the game, and how. He is ecstatic when he tells us, “It is extremely gratifying when a film is loved. However, Kabir was my most flawed character that has been my most loved. It shows the audience is coming of age.”

Trade expert Taran Adarsh feels content ruled this year. “I think it’s triumph of content, coupled with star power. All these films had content as key, and star power was like icing on cake. Star power attracts audiences on day one and two, but after that, it’s all content.”

Sushant Singh Rajput and

■ Hrithik Roshan and Tiger Shroff (War) — ₹316.91 cr

■ Akshay Kumar (Mission Mangal) — ₹202.98 cr

■ Shahid Kapoor (Kabir Singh) — ₹278.24 cr

■ Ayushmann Khurrana (Dream Girl) — ₹142.26 cr

■ Vicky Kaushal (Uri: The Surgical Strike) — ₹245.36 cr (All-India figures, according to Bollywood Hungama)

Shraddha Kapoor, too, got a hit in the form of Chhichhore, which was lapped up by the audiences. The biggest surprise was sprung by Vicky Kaushal’s Uri: The Surgical Strike. The performance was above anyone’s expectations, and made him hot property. Akshay Kumar, who has an envious track record at the boxoffice, also got the highest grossing film of his long career with Mission Mangal, which revolved around India’s Mars Orbiter Mission. However, Housefull 4 seems set to overtake Mission Mangal as Akshay’s highest grosser.

On one hand, while masala films worked wonders, there was also a high-concept film like Dream Girl, which proved to be Ayushmann Khurrana’s biggest hit to date. The actor’s latest film, Bala, too, has opened to a great start. On Dream Girl’s success, Ayushmann says it was a “total team effort”. “As an artiste, all you can really do is believe that you are picking a good film that will entertain audiences thoroughly,” he says, “I have been lucky enough that more often than not, my films have worked at the box office and also got the acclaim that they deserved. It is always amazing to reach new milestones.”