Okay, there seems to be a shade of revisionist history going on here. I'd like to clarify.
Before the Khans, so to speak, Jackie Shroff, Sunny Deol, Sanjay Dutt, and Amitabh Bachchan were the biggest stars followed by Anil Kapoor and Govinda. Hum was Amitabh's swansong as a star. After that, he wasn't the same. During the same time, Sanjay Dutt emerged as the undisputed King of Bollywood. It wasn't even arguable at the time. The stage was set for Sanjay Dutt, which is why a blockbuster like Saajan didn't add much to Salman's profile because it featured Sanjay Dutt.
Now, Amitabh Bachchan wasn't as big as he was in the late 70s until the mid 80s, but he had a cult following until the late 80s, which is why despite being well older than the "heroes" of the time--Sanjay, Sunny, Jackie, and Anil--AB Snr. was still in contention.
Bollywood has had a somewhat romantic relationship with the number 3 or the trident, whatever you wish to call it. Initially, it was Ashok Kumar, Guru Dutt, and Balraj Sahni. Later on, Dilip Kumar, Raj Kapoor, the prodigal son (of the time) of Indian Cinema, Dev Anand replaced the three. After these three, it was Rajesh Khanna, Dharmendra, and Amitabh Bachchan. While not at the same level, in the mid-early 90s, the top trifecta was of Sanjay Dutt, Sunny Deol, and Jackie Shroff. Anil Kapoor wasn't as big a "star" as these three but rounded up well at fourth. And, since then, it's been Salman, Shahrukh, and Aamir.
Quite a trend.
In between we've seen, as Pallavi stated, Jeetendra and I'd like to add, the silver-jubilee star, Rajendra Kumar. You can't talk about box-office success without mentioning these two.
Nevertheless, box-office dynamics after the Khans debuted was very different to the one now. Khalnayak was Sanjay Dutt's last movie as the biggest movie star in India. But the whole fiasco Sanjay Dutt went through after that meant that there was void from 1993 until 1995. As Sunny Deol had a decade of consistency behind him, he became the number 1 star. It wasn't until DDLJ--coinciding with SRK's hits like Darr and Baazigar--that SRK came to the fore.
Salman Khan, from 1989 (MPK) until 1995 wasn't considered an equal to Sunny Deol, or Govinda (he was an unparalleled draw because of the comedy genre), or even SRK after Darr/Baazigarr. Then, Karan Arjun happened, which is the movie that propelled Salman Khan to superstardom. It's ironic to think that Karan Arjun did nothing for SRK, who at the time had a higher profile than Salman. Yet, KA is the movie that basically established Salman in the same wavelength as Sunny, Govinda, and the newly joined SRK. Until this, Aamir was nowhere near any superstardom talk.
Now, comes the turning point for everyone, the mid-90s until 2000. Salman Khan and SRK enter a prolific run from 1995 until 2000. The original trio was actually Sunny, SRK, and Salman. During the time, Salman delivers 9 hit movies. SRK gives 9 hits himself. Sunny begins to slow down, with 6 hits iirc, but two of those are ATBBs, and Gadar as we know, is a top-10 blockbuster in the history of Indian cinema (2001).
However, that was where it ended (partially) for Sunny. He did deliver a hit in Indian in 2001, but 2001 was to be his last as a superstar in India. Now, the stage was clear.. It was between SRK and Salman.
Aaand, we all know what happened, hence, in 2002, SRK became the undisputed King of Bollywood. That run lasted until 2008 (Rab Ne) before Aamir popped up for the first time in his career as a superstar in the same vein as Sanjay, Jackie, Anil, Sunny, SRK, Salman, and Govinda.
But, soon after Aamir delivered the record-breaking Ghajini, which is still an ATBB if we remain objective, and 3I, which was another huge blockbuster, Salman Khan returned to the fore with Wanted, and with Dabbang we all know what happened next.
So, the Khans as such, have barely dominated at the same period. In the early 90s, it was Sanjay, Sunny, and Jackie/Anil. In the mid until the early 2000s, it was Sunny/Salman/SRK. From the early 2000s until 2009, it was SRK as the undisputed #1 followed by HR and someone amongst Aamir/Salman/Akshay. Since then, it's been Salman, Aamir, and one of SRK/Akshay.
I repeat--all three Khans haven't dominated Bollywood at the same time. This decade is the only time when the Khans have been 1, 2, and 3, and even that is arguable.
So, yes, I hope this satisfies you. :)
Anupamaa
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