The three Khans of the Hindi Film Industry, Salman, Aamir and Shah Rukh are known as the pillars of Bollywood. The megastars run the showbiz with their 'star-power', fan following and of course talent. No matter how much the world tries to pit them against each other, no one can take away the supremacy they hold over the entire Bollywood. Their films are marked as important dates in the calendar, just like a festival, the revenues generated by their films, form a major chunk of business in the industry, the opening of their films create records and their overall collections are made public only to tell the world that they've broken their own records. This is the power and influence of the three Khans in the industry.
Year 2016 was a big year for Bollywood because all three superstars of the industry were releasing their films. While Aamir Khan's Dangal was announced as a Christmas release, it was Salman and Shah Rukh who were the newsmakers of the year. Their on and off friendship was again at stake as both Sultan and Raees were pitted against each other on Eid. Call it a co-incident or a planned rescheduling, but Raees got delayed and Sultan got its much-desired grand opening. A lot of factors lead to the postponement of Raees. First SRK decided to delay the film, then he got injured on the sets, then MNS played party pooper by banning Pakistani actors from working in India. Raees features Pakistani actress Mahira Khan as the leading lady. The fate of the film's release, at that time, thus remained unclear till producer Farhan Akhtar decided to clear the air.
Without dividing any business, Bollywood savoured the returns from Sultan and kept Raees in reserve. It's strange how the two Khans never actually clashed at the box-office in recent times, while their fan groups keep attacking each other on social media all the time. Last time the Khans clashed was in 2006, when SRK's Don and Salman's Jaan-E-Man was released on the same day to cash in Diwali. However, it is to be noted that 2006 was a time when Salman was not at his peak and was going through a hard time at box-office while SRK was still at the top. As a result, Don fared well because of its crisp writing and Farhan Akhtar's vision while Jaan-E-Man failed to create magic at the box office.
10 years have gone by and the superstars have turned into money churning machines for Bollywood. Now, no two Khans can actually clash at BO because producers of these films won't let it happen. Even film distributors do not like to divide their business. Moreover, for the sake of maintaining their power circle, it's important to stay united, or a Kumar or Roshan will break in. This is the reason, why even after evident cold shoulder, they all leave out no opportunity to praise each-other's work and/or promote it via social media. After all, kings who stay together, rule better.
Talking about SRK's latest presentation Raees, a film which was earlier said to clash with 2016's biggest hit Sultan, was shifted to a more flexible and convenient slot of Republic day weekend. Claiming to be the biggest first release of 2017, the film was strategically placed against another A-Lister going through rough times. Hrithik Roshan's Kaabil announced it's release date before Raees came into the picture. While Kaabil is officially releasing on 26 Jan, Raees hijacked the day before, sending Kaabil makers into frenzy.
Ironically, the producer of Kaabil, Rakesh Roshan, is the person who managed to direct both SRK and Salman together in Karan-Arjun. However, things have changed massively in 20 years, and Karan-Arjun are no longer princes of Bollywood province, but the rulers.
Hrithik Roshan who last tasted success in 2014 is eager for a hit. His last film and much ambitious project Mohenjodaro fell flat at box-office, threatening his position in the industry.His personal life was far more discussed than his films all of last year. So a hit for Hrithik at this juncture is crucial. All his hopes are with Kaabil which can strike a chord with the audience because of its unique storyline. Roshan is playing a blind man avenging his wife's death. The role, in fact is challenging and Sanjay Gupta's direction promises to be a gritty thriller.
Raees,on the other hand, is SRK's ambitious project. Shah Rukh's last release Fan (Dear Zindagi had him in the extended cameo), failed to meet the expectations making his position amongst Khans a little more vulnerable. The film based on the life of Gujarat's infamous bootlegger; looks intense and entertaining at the same time and thus a big BO success is expected. The intensity of SRK combined with Nawazzuddin's realism has to result in something big and good. The film is helmed by award-winning director Rahul Dholakia whose debut film Parzania remains a classic till date. However, instead of making noise for their content, the only way both films are in news is for their clash. While makers of Raees sound quite confident with their slot, Kaabil makers are a little tense with their clash with a Khan.
If Kaabilfails to create any sort of spark at the BO despite being a good film, the country's obsession with Khan will be one of the biggest reasons. The fate of Kaabil is being talked about because a Roshan has decided to breach the Khan circle. However, it has always been a SRK film that has been pitted against big non-Khan films. In 2015, Dilwale had everything meant for a masala film but it was Sanjay Leela Bhansali's dream project Bajirao Mastani starring much younger Ranveer Singh and Deepika Padukone that won the BO race, much to everyone's surprise.
It was Bhansali's Saawaraiyaa who suffered at the hands of SRK's Om Shaanti Om in 2007, in 2015 the director avenged that fate. Will Kaabil follow the same suit? The answer will be out by the end of the week. Till then, while Raees enjoys a promotion with Salman Khan on Bigg Boss sets, Kaabil has to settle for a Jhalak Dikhhlaa Jaa to settle score.
The line is not the same if you are a non-Khan A-lister and an average Khan film has chances to work more at BO than an above average non-Khan film. The situation is going to be same for a long time because the Khans are in no mood to hand the reigns of Bollywood in someone else's hands. At least for now.
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