Who is India’s Biggest Superstar currently? | Lineup of Stars included

Indian Cinema is touching new heights each day, and there is appreciation for the content produced, from every corner of the world. While this is the positive aspect, the downside is the reducing admits. Our box office numbers have been going up, thanks to inflation and rising ticket prices, but the admits or ticket sales are going down. In fact, post 2000, only three films went past 6 crore admits with Baahubali 2 The Conclusion sitting right at the top with 11.50 crore admits. There are many factors including the rise of OTT, Piracy and Digital content but the craze of cinema still exists in India. Despite all these issues, only a few actors have retained their stardom, and few have risen recently but the question keeps arising: Who is Indias biggest star?

Amitabh Bachchan is regarded as the biggest superstar of Bollywood or rather the biggest Indian superstar who is active even now and has been seen in films like Kalki 2898 AD and Vettaiyan recently. This is because he has had longevity, huge footfalls, bumper openings, unmatched recognition in every corner of the country and perhaps the world, huge legacy and was the highest paid actor and the megastar of Bollywood at that point in time. Dilip Kumar has also been the biggest superstar of Bollywood of all time before that and in fact Dharmendra was also called the biggest movie star in India at one point in time because he supposedly had delivered more solo Blockbusters than Senior Bachchan. While we must not ignore the past but there are many sources to decipher this, as to who was the biggest back then.

Well, coming back to the present, the biggest Bollywood actor currently is Shah Rukh Khan, based on various factors but mainly due to his appeal, massive fan following and most importantly box office numbers. The Biggest superstar in India or the Biggest superstar of India may have many factors but we cannot ignore box office numbers as that is the key determinant. This is why, the phase pre-pandemic where Shah Rukh Khan was struggling at the box office, always had a competitor like Salman Khan and Akshay Kumar but today it is all about Shah Rukh Khan which tells you that the peak of every actor changes with box office numbers but it’s the longevity and appeal that makes Shah Rukh Khan big and the consistency. And when you bring overseas markets into consideration, Shah Rukh Khan cannot be defeated. This is about Bollywood actors.

India’s biggest superstar keeps changing from time to time in the eyes of the audience, but in the eyes of trade and the industry, it is consistency that gives you the answer to Who is the biggest superstar in India? There are trends and the audience adopts these trends to decide an actor. The Hindi speaking states plays a key factor in determining who is the biggest at the box office, due to the presence of a large number of Hindi speakers. In the 80s, Amitabh Bachchan was at the top in these states, Sunny Deol in the 90s, Salman Khan post 2010 etc. Currently it is Shah Rukh Khan as he did the right films recently by right it means something that the audience likes or prefers. But before 2023, the audience would have needed some kind of an analysis to answer the same question but now they will probably choose Shah Rukh and that shows that more than history and future, it is always about the present, for the audience. Time and again, Superstar Rajinikanth has been the biggest South Indian star in the Hindi speaking states. Yes, few of his films recently may not have performed but he has been at the top but that doesn’t change the fact that he is big in North. Rajnikanth Upcoming films Coolie and Jailer 2, if given the right release plan in North will bring mayhem at the box office and make him a rare case where he will be setting and breaking Box Office records at the age of 75. This also makes Rajinikanth a huge star probably a giant star because he has been able to deliver huge grossers at this age, without much contribution from the Hindi markets and it boils down to the legacy and the longevity.

Indian Cinema is celebrated by cine-goers and cine-goers need cinema halls to celebrate cinema. Currently India has 10,000 screens roughly and most of the active screens or theatres with big seating capacities and frequent operations fall in the Telugu speaking regions. The proportion is higher, and the cinema culture in Telugu speaking states is huge where even a new actor can become a huge star and build a loyal fan base. Not just the Telugu speaking states but cinema is South is celebrated on a crazy level and this is why despite a small diaspora outside India, their overseas numbers are huge. That is where actors like Prabhas and Allu Arjun come into equation at the all-India level because they are known faces in their home market and in the Hindi speaking states, which has a huge population. Prabhas is probably the biggest currently because he has proven his merit outside the Baahubali franchise even with poor films. Allu Arjun too will compete with Prabhas once he proves his merit outside the Pushpa franchise. Prabhas also has these opening day records, with highest number of Rs 100 crore plus openers. His films have also opened with Rs 100 crore domestic gross one after the other which is something exceptional. There are a few Bollywood actors like Shah Rukh Khan, Hrithik Roshan, Ranbir Kapoor etc who have good market in South and Prabhas and Allu Arjun are probably 10 times bigger in these markets and in North where these actors have their core market, Prabhas and Allu Arjun can give close competition and with right content, it’s a different story which means, Prabhas and Allu Arjun are much bigger when you see things at an all India level. Thalapathy Vijay is also a huge star but his films don’t generally release across PVR, INOX, CINEPOLIS in Hindi due to OTT policy and this means fewer screens and shows in North.

So, who is the biggest star in India?

To conclude, Allu Arjun and Ranbir Kapoor have to prove their merit outside their singular biggies for the all-India level but they are huge but at the all-India level, so far, Prabhas and Shah Rukh Khan can be comfortably be called as the actors who are at the top. Out of these four, three have solid line up. Allu Arjun upcoming films include a film with Atlee in which Allu Arjun has a dual role, a film with Trivikram which is a period drama. Ranbir Kapoor has Animal Park, Ramayana, Love and War while Shah Rukh Khan has just King which was earlier said to be a special role but sources have confirmed that King will have a much longer role with Abhishek Bachchan playing the antagonist and SRK’s daughter Suhana Khan who will be back to films after The Archies. Again, it is Prabhas who has all big budget films due to his ability to recover huge budgets and is busy with a lot of films out which three films look like sure shot 1000 crore grossers namely Spirit, Kalki 2 and Salaar 2.

Prabhas, has a much bigger market and can easily carry big films on his shoulders. After Shah Rukh Khan plans to slow down, it is Prabhas who will lead at the pan India level with Allu Arjun having a chance to compete with Prabhas.

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