Bollywood Hungama Stars Of Decade : Varun/10 & Tiger/9

The decade Power: Varun Dhawan’s 5 years of high followed by a steep lowByBollywood Hungama News Network

Created: Dec 24, 2019 - 9:12 am IST

This decade saw the rise and fall of the biggest stalwarts from the industry. While a lot has been spoken about the star-power of the actors, here’s a series that analysis in-depth the strengths and weaknesses of the top 10 Bollywood stars, and ranks them based on their performance this decade taking into account factors like magnitude of success, opening day collections, consistency, potential, awareness, and loyal fan following. The one who scores high on all the fronts will be crowned the STAR OF THIS DECADE.

#Varun Dhawan

Number 10 on the list is Varun Dhawan and here’s a report card at how he fared between 2010 and 2019.

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2010 to 2015

Varun Dhawan made his debut alongside Alia Bhatt and Sidharth Malhotra in the 2012 Karan Johar directorial, Student of The Year. The film proved to be the biggest opener featuring new comers at that point of time, and Varun was touted as the most promising of the lot. And he even lived on to the expectations by following that up with commercially successful films like Main Tera Hero, Humpty Sharma Ki Dulhania, Badlapur, ABCD 2 and Dilwale. Interestingly so, all the five films took a good start at the box-office and proved to be a winner for everyone (excluding Dilwale) thereby making him the most bankable new comer within a span of merely 3 years (2012 to 2015). ABCD 2 was the first 100 crore film for Varun, and the stage was set for him to go even bigger in the second half of the decade.

What separated Varun from the rest was the fact that he primarily targeted the kids, which got him the support from family audience as well. Varun’s contemporaries on the other hand tried to appease the youth. His humble off-screen image too worked in creating a base for him amongst the family crowd and in no time, he became the youth star with a fan-base and trust factor among the families. By the end of the first half of this decade, every trade analyst and critic pitched him as the next big thing in Bollywood as delivering five back to back successful films in a span of three years wasn’t a joke.

2010 to 2015

2012: Rs. 70.00 crores (1 Film)

2014: Rs. 127.41 crores (2 Films)

2015: Rs. 304.53 crores (3 Films)

2016 till date

The brand Varun Dhawan was growing among a set of audience, however the critics often tagged him as a limited actor, catering to the commercial cinema one. But it seemed as if the criticism from the critics didn’t bother Varun much as he kicked off the second half of the decade with Dishoom, which though an average affair at the ticket window, fell well within the commercial template and found appreciation on television. The film yet again pitched him as the star of families as the television is primarily a consumption platform for the families. Dishoom was followed by two mega-successes, Badrinath Ki Dulhania and Judwaa 2,both of which went past the 100 crore club. By 2017 end, Varun had his kitty filled with eight successful films and no failures. He was far ahead of his contemporaries – Ranbir Kapoor, Ranveer Singh and Tiger Shroff by the end of 2017. Though he didn’t have the big blockbuster under his kitty, he was consistent at churning out hits, which the others lacked.

However, since then it has been a downhill for the family man. At the trailer launch of Judwaa 2, David Dhawan had said, “Chalti Gaadi Ka Bonut Nai Kholna Chahiye” and that’s exactly the mistake that Varun did. He tried to step aside from his successful zone to win over the audience he didn’t cater to at first thereby deserting his loyal audience. His follow up to Judwaa 2 – October, Sui Dhaga and Kalank were disappointment as far as box-office is concerned.

2016: Rs. 70 crores (1 Film)

2017: Rs. 255.29 crores (2 Films)

2018: Rs. 79.02 crores (3 Film)

2019: Rs. 80.35 crores (1 Film)

The number crunching analysis:

Our understanding suggests that he tried to woo the critics in 2018 with films like October and SuiDhaaga, which proved to be box-office disappointments, despite the positive reviews. He stepped aside from the commercial template, tried to get out the actor in him, which resulted in him losing out on the target audience, who are used to seeing him in the commercial fun zone. The two disappointments were followed by a disaster in Abhishek Verman’s period drama, Kalank, which is Varun’s last release of the decade. Unfortunately for the actor, in the same period, his contemporary, Ranbir Kapoor delivered a 300 crore blockbuster, Ranveer Singh had three releases in the form of Padmaavat, Simmba and Gully Boy, which put him in a position of a superstar and actor to look out for and Tiger Shroff cemented his position as an action hero with Baaghi 2 – a bumper opener and War, which featured him as the parallel lead alongside Hrithik Roshan. In the decade to follow, apart from the consistency, he needs the big grosser to jump the ladder. A bumper opener and big lifetime total is the need of the hour for Varun as the final analysis of Varun’s work this decade looks a bit underwhelming to say the least – both in terms of opening day collections as well as the lifetime numbers. However, one must not underestimate his pull as his biggest strength lies in the families and that audience will come out to see entertaining films.

Where does Varun Dhawan go from here?

Varun’s line up looks promising more towards the commercial “masala” cinema, which is the audience he has catered to till date, with films like Street Dancer, Coolie No. 1 up for release next year and Sriram Raghavan’s Arun Kheterpal biopic and Shashank Khaitan’s commercial entertainer co-starring Kiara Advani and Bhumi Pednekarslated to hit the big screen in the year to follow. We hope, Varun signs on for subjects he absolutely believes in, and does films that Hindi cinema is known for as ever since his debut he has been touted as a true blue Hindi film star. Octobers and Sui Dhaagas can always be taken up by some “actors”, who don’t come with the pressure of delivering at the BO, as it’s not something meant for a “star”. May be a film in two years shouldn’t be an issue, but the focus needs to be on the big films.

The lack of big grossers, bumper openers and downhill in the last two years of decade coupled with upward swing of his contemporaries makes us put Varun Dhawan as star no. 10 on the list of “Bollywood Hungama Decade Power”

The decade power: Tiger Shroff and his potential to become the BIGGEST mass star of his generationByBollywood Hungama News Network

Created: Dec 20, 2019 - 9:00 am IST

This decade saw the rise and fall of the biggest stalwarts from the industry. While a lot has been spoken about the star-power of the actors, here’s a series that analyses in-depth the strengths and weaknesses of the top 10 Bollywood stars, and ranks them based on their performance this decade taking into account factors like magnitude of success, opening day collections, consistency, potential, awareness, and loyal fan following. The one who scores high on all the fronts will be crowned the STAR OF THIS DECADE.

#Tiger Shroff

Number 9 on the list is Tiger Shroff and here’s a report card at how he fared between 2010 and 2019.

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2010 till 2015:

In 2014, Tiger Shroff made his acting debut with Sajid Nadiadwala’s Heropanti alongside Kriti Sanon and the film proved to be an ideal launchpad for a newcomer in the industry. It showcased his skills in dance and action, and right from the first film; the unique combo made him a popular entity among the masses. While the critics didn’t really give him the chance, there are ample people within the trade, more importantly, producer Sajid Nadiadwala who knew that Jackie’s cub had the potential and signed him on for another action film, Baaghi, which released in 2016.

2014: Rs. 52.92 crore (1 Film)

2016 to 2019:

His faith was right, as post Heropanti, Tiger had become a sellable entity by himself and his second release, two years later alongside Shraddha Kapoor reinstated the fact that the man is here to stay and leave a mark among the masses. Baaghi opened with a bang at the mass belt thanks to Tiger in action backed with good production values and hit music, and proved to be a smash hit which resulted in the birth of an action franchise on the lines of Hollywood classic, Rambo, with Tiger being termed as the Desi Rambo. Baaghi and Heropanti were followed by The Flying Jatt and Munna Micheal. Both the films were disappointments, primarily because the hero of masses wasn’t presented in an avatar he was known for. The two films also showcased the limitation of Tiger’s stardom due to his limited acting skills; the reception suggested that an acceptance beyond action and dance film would be difficult for the actor. Two setbacks and Tiger got back to what he is known for – Action. He returned on the big screen with a blockbuster in the form of Baaghi 2 and the opening day figures of the film surprised everyone in the industry. It took an extraordinary start of Rs. 25 crore plus on a partial holiday, more like a non-holiday, an opening day number that was breached by just Salman Khan and Aamir Khan until then on a non-holiday. Mind you, Tiger managed to cross the Rs. 25 crore threshold on a non-holiday much before the bigger and experienced names like Akshay Kumar, Hrithik Roshan, Ajay Devgn, Shah Rukh Khan and that in itself proved his pull among the masses with an out and out action film. His upcoming release, Baaghi 3 too will spring in a pleasant surprise as far as day one is concerned.

At this point of time, he is easily the biggest mass star among his contemporaries and certainly stands the potential to attain a following similar to Salman Khan, provided he makes the right choices. Though, unlike Salman, who found acceptance in action, drama, romance, and comedy, Tiger’s acceptance might certainly be limited to action and dance. However, getting even close to Salman as far as raw stardom in the B and C centers would be a great achievement for Tiger, and he does have the potential. He then came up with the sequel to Student of The Year, which took a good opening, again more so in the mass belts due to Tiger’s popularity however the poor word of mouth resulted in it being a below-average grosser. His last release of the decade, a two-hero film, War with Hrithik Roshan again proved to be a massive success thereby being the first Rs. 300 crore earner for both the leads and it would indeed be unfair to not give any credit to Tiger in this, because all through his career, he has proved his pull among the masses.

2016: Rs. 114.95 crore (2 Films)

2017: Rs. 32.89 (1 Film)

2018: Rs. 164.38 crore (1 Film)

2019: Rs. 386.02 crore (2 Films)

The number-crunching analysis:

Our understanding suggests that despite the limitations in terms of genre, Tiger stands the potential to be the true blue action star of India. In a span of 5 years, he acted in four action films, and every succeeding film earned more than the preceding one, thereby, throwing some light on his growth as a star among the masses. We have personally witnessed the madness at single screens on Tiger’s entry scenes as well as the mass punchlines, and seeing that, Tiger + Dance + Action would always make for a lethal combo, and just needs a decent heroic presentation to sail through. It has happened in the past, as neither Heropanti nor Baaghi or their sequels were great piece of cinema, but they delivered what was promised which resulted in numbers.

Where does Tiger go from here?

Well, as stated above, Tiger should keep on capitalizing on his strength as that would enable him in escalating the trust among the masses with every passing film and attain a status that any star would merely dream of. No one from his generation has catered to the masses to the extent that Tiger has, and this is the biggest plus for him. Experimentation in the form of genre would be advised once in a blue moon to avoid repetition, however, variation in action, action, and action blended well with dance, dance, and dance is the way forward.

However, he needs to make sure that he doesn’t overexpose himself in the genre, plans his releases in a manner that the audience gets a breathing space. 3 action films in two years is the ideal route that Tiger should take with each one getting a gap of approximately 8 months, as that would create the urge and demand for the actor as well as his films. His next, Baaghi 3 seems like a sure shot Rs. 20 crore plus opener, and he does have a good gap of over 7 months for his next release, Rambo, which again can take a solid start at the box-office.

Go Tiger, Roar!

Finally summary at a glance

Total Collections: 751.16 crore

Many in the industry know that Tiger is a bigger star among masses than Hrithik especially in the action/dance genre. WAR would have only touched 200 odd if it wasn't for Tiger's mass fanbase. Yrf knows it, hence he will be rewarded with a new action movie that has franchise potential. As for War 2, gut feeling says that Hrithik will part ways because of remuneration issues. I have always felt that he does those movies that will give him a huge paycheck irrespective of quality. 50% of Mohenjodaro's budget was his paycheck.

Both Varun and Tiger did well. Varun had a slump..Tiger had too, earlier.

If they focus on just commercial they might be BO darlings but I like it when actors challenge themselves and go out of their comfort zone (like Varun did with Badlapur and October).

From 2020 onwards, their choices will also dictate how well they are going to do. Tiger's Baaghi 3 seems a surefire win.

This analysis is quite good (although some details are a bit sketchy..).