It was only two decades ago that the 100-crore club was established when Aamir Khan’s Ghajini netted ₹100 crore at the Indian box office. For about a decade, this remained the benchmark for Indian films. Then, as Baahubali 2 rewrote the rules, the 1000-crore club was born. Initially, the ‘club’ was small, with just two films (Dangal came after its China windfall). But post-pandemic, it has expanded with eight more films joining, the most recent of which are the two Dhurandhar films. This has led many actors – old and young – to become ₹1000-crore superstars. And one of them accounts for 40% of all the films in the list, the most by any Indian actor.
The Indian actor with four ₹1000-crore blockbusters
One would assume that pan-India stars like Prabhas or a veritable superstar like Shah Rukh Khan would dominate this list. But the surprise name at the top is Sanjay Dutt. The veteran actor, who was among the highest-paid Indian actors in the early 90s, has been in four films that have grossed ₹1000 crore or more. He has done so by appearing in films across India in different languages. During the pandemic, Sanjay became the favourite villain in the South. This gave him his first ₹1000-crore film with KGF: Chapter 2. None of his other pan-India projects took off the same way, and the actor had to wait till Jawan to get his next ₹1000-crore hit. There should be an asterisk next to this entry for Sanjay Dutt, as he only had a cameo in the film, which was led by Shah Rukh Khan.
Sanjay, 66, extended his lead at the top with a supporting role in the two Dhurandhar films, which have both grossed over ₹1000 crore. He is the only Indian actor to have appeared in four of the ten highest-grossing Indian films. Shah Rukh Khan, Prabhas, and Ranveer Singh have two such films each, while Aamir Khan, Yash, Ram Charan, and Jr NTR have one each. Among female stars, it’s Deepika Padukone who rules the roost with three films in the top 10 (Jawan, Pathaan, and Kalki 2898 AD).
The new expected arrivals in the club
Dhurandhar 2 certainly won’t be the last film in the ever-expanding ₹1000-crore club. Rising ticket prices and Indian films’ growing popularity overseas mean that more films will be added to the list. At the top of the probables’ list are SS Rajamouli’s Varanasi and Nitesh Tiwari’s two Ramayana films. With Varanasi, Mahesh Babu and Priyanka Chopra will finally have a ₹1000-crore hit each. And with Ramayana, while Yash will add a second film to his notch, Ranbir Kapoor will enter the club, having flirted with it with Animal (it earned ‘only’ ₹915 crore).