Salman Khan, Varun Dhawan, Aamir Khan OR Akshay Kumar: Which Star Will Break Rajesh Khanna’s 50 Year Standing Record?

In between 1969 and 1972, Rajesh Khanna acted in as many as 15 films and none of them proved to be flops at the Box-Office. As per the limited data available, out of the 15 films, 13 of them were clean hits, whereas the two other were average/below average grosser in the domestic belt. It has been almost 5 decades since the time when Rajesh Khanna showed an unparalleled domination, and finally we have as many as 4 stars who stand in the contention to not just challenge but also surpass the record. The top contender to attain this feat is Salman Khan who currently stands at 14 films without an outright flop. His streak started with Veer in 2010 and since then none of his films have proved to be a flop at the Box-Office.

Although there have been under-performers like Jai Ho, Tubelight and Race 3, none of them were labelled as outright flops by the trade. The run witnessed by Khan this decade is one of the best ever witnessed by any star in the history of Bollywood. The blockbusters delivered by Khan in last 8 years are more than the blockbusters delivered by a lot of superstars in their entire career. With Bharat up for release during the Eid 2019 weekend, we expect the star to equal Rajesh Khanna’s record of delivering 15 films without a flop.

The second contender for this feat is Varun Dhawan who is undoubtedly the most successful new-comer of the Hindi film industry. Since his debut in 2011 with Student Of The Year, the gen-next superstar has not delivered a single flop film and with his recent release Sui Dhaaga proving to be a success, his success count stands at 11. The only film that didn’t really do well at the ticket window for Dhawan is October, however even that film managed to avoid a flop verdict from the trade. With Kalank, Ranbhoomi and a film with Daviid Dhawan in his kitty, Varun Dhawan stands a solid chance to break this record and create history. An interesting point to note is the fact that Varun has also taken the best start ever by an actor in history of Indian cinema as no producer in last 7 years has lost money on a Varun Dhawan film. However, its’ now time for Jr. Dhawan to take it to the next level by delivering a humongous blockbuster.

Next up is Mr. Perfectionist, Aamir Khan, who currently holds a strong position with 9 back to back films without a flop (11 if we include Dhobi Ghat and Secret Superstar). An interesting point to note here is the fact that while Salman and Varun have delivered a below average grosser, with Aamir Khan all the 9 films have proved to be hits, super hits or blockbusters. To track backwards, the last unsuccessful film starring Aamir Khan in lead was Mangal Pandey, which released way back in 2005. Aamir Khan too is in the league of his own and the run witnessed by him this decade will go down in the history as one of the best run ever. In-fact, Khan has already created history by delivering maximum industry hits i.e. all-time grossers. Whether Aamir Khan will be able to surpass Rajesh Khanna’s record is not the question, however the question here is the fact that he would take at-least 5 years from hereon to equal the record, and then another year to surpass it as the superstar is known to act in just one film at a time. But none the less, he is a strong contender to attain this feat of not just acting in 15 films without a flop, but also acting in 15 back to back successful films i.e. those with the verdict of average or above.

Although Akshay currently stands at just 7 back to back films without a flop, he would cross the double-digit mark of successful films in no time as his upcoming releases in next one year i.e. 2.0, Kesari, Good News and Housefull 4 seem to be sure shot successes. If Akshay Kumar, who is called the industry’s hit machine, continues his current run at the same pace, he would definitely break the record of Rajesh Khanna in next two years. What made Rajesh Khanna’s run special was the fact that he delivered 15 successful films in a span of merely 3 years, and this is something that can’t be replicated in today’s time. None the less, acting in 15 films without a flop is also an achievement in itself, which needs to be recognised. Let’s see which of the above-mentioned stars manage to attain this historic feat.

Salman Khan: 14 Films (9 Blockbusters, 1 Hit, 1 Semi Hit, 2 Below Average)
Varun Dhawan: 11 Films (3 Super Hits, 3 Hits, 4 Semi Hit, 1 Below Average)
Aamir Khan: 9 Films (5 Blockbusters, 2 Super Hits, 1 Hit, 1 Semi Hit)
Akshay Kumar: 7 Films (3 Super Hit, 3 Hit, 1 Average)