Actor Ajay Devgn has pretty much seen it all when it comes to movie openings, so even though his film Golmaal Again will face stiff competition when it opens next week at Diwali against Aamir Khan's production Secret Superstar, he's experienced enough to take it all in stride.
Devgn has been working in the Indian movie business for so long that he once had a movie that grossed Rs. 12 crore ($1.9 million at the 1991 exchange rate) widely deemed a super hit.
That was way back in 1991 when the Bollywood superstar-to-be appeared in his first starring role in a film, the Hindi-language action-romance film Phool Aur Kaante. Since the picture cost only 3 crore rupees to produce, its financiers were happy, and Devgn’s career was underway.
In the intervening years, he’s made over 90 movies, establishing himself not only as one of India’s most popular and highest-paid stars, but also as a king of Diwali, the holiday festival of lights that’s coming up next week.
Diwali is the holiday—celebrated mainly in India's northern provinces—when many in the working class are paid their annual bonuses, and with some extra cash in their pockets, many find their way to the movies.
Diwali has traditionally been one of the year's biggest box office periods in India, and because Devgn has managed to claim the holiday for quite a few of his movie debuts, it's also been the time when many of his most successful pictures have launched.
In 2008 his picture Golmaal Returns, a sequel to his 2006 action comedy Golmaal, squared off at Diwali against the Priyanka Chopra-starring drama Fashion, and handily won the contest, earning ₹83 crore in revenue ($17 million at then-prevailing exchange rates) versus ₹43 crore ($8.8 million) for Fashion.
At Diwali, 2010, Devgn came back with Golmaal 3, and handily beat the Rohit Shetty comedy Action Replay by a huge margin, with a ₹173 crore ($39.3 million) tally compared to ₹47 crore for the latter film. Golmaal 3 became only the fourth film to cross the 100 crore rupees mark, and was for a time the third highest-grossing Indian film ever released, after Aamir Khan’s 3 Idiots (₹395 cr. in 2009) and his Ghajini (₹200 cr. in 2008).
Ajay was pitched in a fierce Diwali battle in 2012, when his Son of Sardaar faced off against Shah Rukh Khan’s Jab Tak Hai Jaan. Although Khan’s film prevailed in that battle, both films fared well, with Jab Tak Hai Jaan earning ₹235 cr. ($18.6 million) and Son of Sardaar reaching ₹163 cr. ($12.9 million).
Last year at Diwali the Ranbir Kapoor and Aishwarya Rai romantic drama Ae Dil Hai Mushkil go the better of Ajay’s thriller Shivaay, collecting ₹238 crore ($36.7 million) to the latter’s ₹114 crore ($17.8 million). Because Shivaay was made for a ₹110 crore budget, the film’s performance was considered a bit of disappointment.
This year Ajay will be looking to redeem himself as the fourth installment of the popular Golmaal franchise rolls out in Indian multiplexes. Although the main competition, Secret Superstar, doesn’t feature Aamir Khan in the lead, Khan produced the picture, and with his flashy supporting role as a villain, he is as much the face of the film’s marketing as is the young lead actress Zaira Wasim (Dangal). So this Diwali will bring another superstar to superstar clash, and only one film will emerge victorious.
I'm not placing any bets on either picture, but for my thoughts on Secret Superstar's prospects, you can sread here.
Read More: For Indian Movies, 1,000 Crore Rupees Is The New 100
