Padmaavat enters Rs 300 cr club, but still no match to Aamir Khan, Salman Khan’s stardom

Deepika Paduokne and Ranveer Singh’s Padmaavat is the latest Hindi film to enter the Rs 300 crore club. However, it’s not the first film to achieve this feat as six other films have already crossed that mark. Film trade analyst Taran Adarsh has tweeted the film’s business figures. As per Adarsh, director Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s film has earned Rs 300.26 crore so far.

The other six films in this club include PK, Bajrangi Bhaijaan, Sultan, Dangal, Tiger Zinda Hai and Baahubali 2’s Hindi version. Out of these, Baahubali The Conclusion is the only venture to break into the Rs 500 crore club solely in Hindi. Padmaavat faced protests since its team started shooting in Jaipur in early 2017. Many groups, spearheaded by the Rajput Karni Sena, opposed the film’s take on historical events. The protests were so intense that many states refused to let the film release, and that reduced its initial screen count to 4,000. However, the buzz around the film was so strong that it started breaking box office records right from the first week.

Released on January 25, Padmaavat saw Ranveer Singh in a terrific form. Out of the three lead actors, he received the maximum praise from critics and audience alike. But there is one interesting aspect of Padmaavat’s box office success. In spite of a high curiosity value around it, Padmaavat has so far failed to surpass Salman Khan’s Tiger Zinda Hai that released without any fuss. That shows how dominating the superstars, particularly the Khans, are in the Indian market. Apart from Baahubali 2, which was primarily a Telugu production, all the other films in the Rs 300 crore club are either Aamir films or Salman films. This suggests that relatively new actors will have some time to gain such popularity to match the superstars.