India's box office King! Not Rajinikanth, Shah Rukh Khan, Salman Khan, Prabhas, Allu Arjun or Yash

Rajinikanth, Shah Rukh Khan, Salman Khan, Prabhas, Allu Arjun and a few others are the biggest Indian actors with a fanbase sprawling overseas. While Thalaivar Rajinikanth has been enjoying superstardom overseas for decades, Shah Rukh and Salman also boast a loyal fanbase. Then after, Prabhas entered the league with the Baahubali franchise and Allu Arjun's Pushpa made him a global star. Meanwhile, the Kannada Film Industry's Rocking Star Yash also emerged as a big star with the KGF franchise. Undeniably, there are several other actors in the Indian film industry who enjoy a global fanbase. However, none of them are India's box office King.

Undoubtedly, all these stars have registered consecutive box office records but don't have many consecutive Rs 200-crore films in their names.

Well, before revealing the name of India's box office King, let's take a peek into the strategy that makes him the King.

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Earlier, Rs 100 crore was the benchmark of a film's success. An actor with more than a film crossing Rs 100 crore was called a superstar. It was such because there were not many movies that crossed the mark. However, with time, the benchmark moved to Rs 200-300 crore clubs. But, there weren't many actors that reached the Rs 200 crore mark consecutively. But, one actor could. Not just two or three, he gave eight superhit movies consecutively that crossed the Rs 200 crore mark. 

He is none other than Tamil superstar Thalapathy Vijay.

Thalapathy Vijay

Thalapathy Vijay is currently basking on the success of his recent release The Greatest of All Time (GOAT). As per reports, the movie crossed the Rs 300 crore mark within the first 5 days of its release. Though the movie couldn't be released on a wide scale in the Hindi market, the lion's share of the box office collection comes from its Tamil shows. Moreover, GOAT (Hindi) was not released by three national multiplex chains- PVR, Cinepolis and Inox, as the makers couldn't adhere to the theatrical release guidelines. However, they released the non-Hindi versions in the South Indian market, which has witnessed tremendous response. 

As per film trade portal, the worldwide gross box office collection of The GOAT is Rs 332-333 crore, while the domestic collection is Rs 204 crore (gross). 

This is Vijay's fourth film after Leo, Bigil, and Varisu to cross the Rs 300 crore mark globally. Since 2017, Thalapathy Vijay has appeared in eight films in the lead and all of them have crossed Rs 200 crore worldwide. Moreover, four of these movies are on the list of top 10 highest-grossing Tamil films of all time. The journey began with Mersal (Rs 210 crore) and continued with Sarkar (Rs 245 crore), Bigil (Rs 285 crore), Master (Rs 260 crore), Beast (Rs 220 crore), and Varisu (Rs 300 crore). And, his last year's movie Leo is one of the highest-grossing Tamil movies ever with Rs 600 crore worldwide gross. 

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Undoubtedly, Vijay enjoys a huge fandom and has snatched away the crown of reigning King of Tamil cinema from veterans like Rajinikanth and Kamal Hassan. Furthermore, he has left his contemporaries like Ajith, Suriya and Dhanush way behind. Even though Vijay's movies don't become superhits, they have earned more than the biggest hits of his rivals.

Vijay Vs Shah Rukh, Salman, Prabhas and Allu Arjun

Undoubtedly, Vijay is the reigning king in Tamil industry. But, he is also India's box office king. Though Shah Rukh Khan's two movies, i.e. Pathaan and Jawan scripted history by crossing the Rs 1000 crore mark and even Dunki had a decent lifetime collection of Rs 470 crore (worldwide) he had no big hits before that. Even Salman Khan, Aamir Khan, Akshay Kumar and other A-listers of Bollywood didn't have major blockbusters. On the other hand, after Baahubali, Prabhas delivered back-to-back flops until Salaar and Kalki 2898 AD was released. Similarly, Allu Arjun, though has been delivering blockbusters consecutively, apart from Ala Vaikunthapurramuloo and Pushpa: The Rise, none have crossed the Rs 200 crore mark. Even Kannada Film Industry's Rocking Star Yash has delivered consecutive blockbusters, but only KGF: Chapter 1 and KGF: Chapter 2 have scripted history. 

Vijay has been flopless since 2016 which is why, it won't be wrong to say that he is the box office 'Beast' or the 'King'.