When Shah Rukh Khan Earned Double Than Salman Khan and Akshay Kumar Combined But Bhai Won The Hearts For His ‘Ahead Of Its Time’ Film! (Photo Credit – IMDb/YouTube)
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The Gen Z kids will narrate the story of how films like Salaar & Dunki clashed at the box office. Still, the millennial in me will stand in the corner laughing and remembering how Shah Rukh Khan once decided to go against the combined force of Salman Khan & Akshay Kumar. Remember how Don & Jaan-E-Mann were released on the same day only to prove why Shah has always been a dangerous opponent to tackle in a box office clash?
It was the third day of Diwali in 2006; every Amitabh Bachchan fan was very skeptical about Shah Rukh Khan carrying the ‘Don’ legacy forward as he had to face a sweet, romantic musical in Salman Khan, Akshay Kumar’s Jaan-E-Mann. The tension was insurmountable, but it was clear Shah had the driving seat at the box office from day 1.
Fans were craving to see something extraordinarily stylish & Farhan Akhtar very smartly served them an icy, slick Shah Rukh Khan as Don on the platter overshadowing Salman Khan, Akshay Kumar’s rom-com which would be labeled as “ahead of its time” years after its release.
Shah Rukh Khan started to dominate the Don VS Jaan-E-Mann battle from the moment makers were booking screens. Don was released on more screens (850) than Jaan-E-Mann (700) owing to the subject’s universal appeal. This was Farah Khan’s husband Shirish Kunder’s first film, which became one of the few he ever directed.
Scoring over 4 crores+ on day 1, Don’s box office collections were more than double what Jaan-E-Mann (2.50 crores+) earned. Even the opening weekend figures almost doubled, with Salman Khan’s film collecting eight crores while Shah Rukh Khan’s actioner clicked around 14 crores.
This trend continued throughout the lifetime & Don’s lifetime (50 crores) ended up double that of Jaaneman (25 crores). Farhan Akhtar was an intelligent producer as well, and he collected way better than the film’s budget, which was reported to be somewhere around 35 crores. While Jaan-E-Mann was declared a flop, failing to recover its reported budget of 33 crore.
Despite the box office numbers, Jaan-E-Mann is still considered as ‘ahead of its time’ by many & Salman Khan’s emotional performance did move many hearts. The film has aged really well, with Don ultimately being the stylish actioner, which people stopped discussing after a while.
