Action has ruled the roost since the inception of Indian cinema.
And with the Rs 100 Crore Club assuming so much importance, the biggest commercial successes are the ones where action is the central element.
No wonder, all the big stars want an action movie to his name.
Ayushmann Khurrana gets his first one with An Action Hero, but it promises to be very different from the regular dishoom-dishoom fare.
Joginder Tuteja looks at the biggest action grossers from Bollywood.
Salman Khan, Tiger Zinda Hai
Box office: Rs 339.25 crore (Rs 3.39 billion)
Salman Khan has plenty of Rs 100 Crore Club action movies to his credit, but his biggest hit is Tiger Zinda Hai, which scored a triple century.
A perfect follow up to Ek Tha Tiger, the Ali Abbas Zafar directorial was well made and has set the stage for Tiger 3.
Hrithik Roshan, War
Box office: Rs 318 crore (Rs 3.18 billion)
Before Hrithik was seen in a rare flop Vikram Vedha, he gave us War, his biggest blockbuster till date.
The Siddharth Anand directorial scored a triple century at the box office.
A two-hero film with Tiger Shroff, War boasts some top class action sequences.
Hrithik will collaborate with Siddharth in Fighter once again, their third film, including Bang Bang.
Aamir Khan, Dhoom: 3
Box office: Rs 284 crore (Rs 2.84 billion)
Dhoom: 3 was the biggest Yash Raj Films’ grosser until Tiger Zinda Hai upstaged it.
YRF has made some of the biggest action entertainers with the three Khans, and has Shah Rukh Khan’s Pathaan coming up next.
Dhoom: 3 featured Aamir Khan in a double role and though it was not conventional masala action, the cool stunts has the audiences wanting a Dhoom: 4.
Ajay Devgn, Tanhaji – The Unsung Warrior
Box office: Rs 280 crore (Rs 2.80 billion)
Ajay Devgn started his career with the action movie Phool Aur Kaante and since then, has done many films in this genre. His father Veeru Devgan, after all, was among Bollywood’s top action directors.
His biggest hit till date is the historical actioner Tanhaji: The Unsung Warrior.
Even though it’s been two-and-a-half years since Tanhaji released, no Hindi film has gone past its Rs 280 crore box office haul.
Ranveer Singh, Simmba
Box office: Rs 240.31 crore (Rs 2.40 billion)
In Rohit Shetty’s cop universe, Simmba was the second installment after Singham and went on to do huge business at the box office.
An ’80s style masala movie, Ranveer showed a different side to himself as a massy hero.
Akshay Kumar, Sooryavanshi
Box office: Rs 197 crore (Rs 1.97 billion)
Audiences have always loved Akshay Kumar in action roles.
It was this film that brought people back to theatres after the pandemic. The film not just opened huge. but went on to score a near double century.
Akshay is all set to start his next film Bade Miyan Chote Miyan and that is reportedly an actioner too.
Tiger Shroff, Baaghi 2
Box office: Rs 166 crore (Rs 1.66 billion)
Akshay Kumar’s partner in Bade Miyan Chote Miyan, Tiger Shroff, has always been an action star.
Baaghi 2 is his biggest solo blockbuster, though he delivered a bigger hit with War.
Prabhas, Saaho
Box office: Rs 150 crore (Rs 1.50 billion)
When Prabhas made the bi-lingual Saaho, it did good business in the Hindi version.
Everyone expected it to be the next Rs 200 Crore Club blockbuster, but to hit Rs 150 crore was not a bad deal either.
As an action hero, he took centre-stage in Saaho and made sure that he drew audiences in his Baahubali follow-up.
Shah Rukh Khan, Ra. One
Box office: Rs 115 crore (Rs 1.15 billion)
When Ra.One released, it saw quite a bit of backlash. Still, it went on to score a century at the box office.
Today, audiences want a sequel to the film, which shows how much popularity the Shah Rukh starrer has gained over the years.
Siddharth Malhotra, Ek Villain
Box office: Rs 106 crore (Rs 1.06 billion)
Sidharth finds a place among the Top 10 actors who have scored big in the action genre.
At the beginning of his career, he did Ek Villain, which was a surprise hit.
With dramatic action and chartbuster music, Ek Villain not just opened well but also scored a century at the box office.
Later, Sidharth went on to do many other action films, including Shershaah.
