Has the race for the number one position among Bollywood stars ended — at least, for the time being? Some film-goers will insist it has, Shah Rukh Khan having consolidated his position as the leading megastar after not one but two Rs 1,000-plus-crore all-time blockbusters (Siddharth Anand’s Pathaan and Atlee’s Jawan) this year. Pathaan was a record-breaking success at the start of 2023. Jawan’s box-office performance increased the gap between SRK and the rest. The list of the rest includes Salman Khan and Aamir Khan, SRK’s most significant competitors, who have often hijacked the number one spot in the last three decades.
The release of Maneesh Sharma’s action thriller Tiger 3, the Salman Khan-Katrina Kaif starrer, will coincide with Diwali. The third film of the Tiger series and the fifth installment of the YRF Spy Universe, Tiger 3 is unlikely to spring any major surprise viewers will not expect from a film of the highly successful franchise. A day before the release, one thing is for sure. This ‘Tiger’ will roar in cinemas in the initial days, giving rise to the possibility of another all-time blockbuster.
How the film will eventually perform will depend on several factors, such as feedback from viewers on social media and responses from critics. That said, Tiger 3, for Khan, is an opportunity to re-emerge as a leading megastar who can do magic at the box office. There is enough pre-release curiosity, which is hardly surprising. Apart from the temptation of watching Khan’s return to the big screen as Avinash ‘Tiger’ Singh Rathore, accompanied by Katrina as Zoya, Emraan Hashmi is expected to make an impact as John Abraham did in the antagonist’s role in Pathaan recently. Two megastar cameos have exciting possibilities: SRK as Pathaan and Hrithik Roshan as Major Kabir Dhaliwal. Besides, the film will be another YRF Spy Universe offering a generous dose of action sequences, some twists in the plot and special effects. The story will have an impact on the film’s box-office performance, of course, but that will only happen in the long run.
Luckily for Tiger 3, the Men in Blue have emerged as the undisputed leader of the table in the Group stage of the ICC Cricket World Cup. Had India’s inconsequential last match against the vastly inferior Netherlands been a must-win one for the home team, many cricket fans would have preferred to watch it instead of opting for the Khan film on the first day itself. The match’s insignificance will ensure less impact on theatrical attendance on day one — although some viewers will watch cricket because of the World Cup factor anyway.
The fact that Tiger 3 is the latest film of the Tiger series is its most obvious strength. The first part, Kabir Khan’s action thriller Ek Tha Tiger (2012), presented Salman Khan as Salman Khan — as is the case quite often — in a cookie-cutter masala film. ETT was a huge commercial success. The second part, Ali Abbas Zafar’s Tiger Zinda Hai (2017), was a well-packaged offering with similar characteristics. The film received more positive responses from critics, and it also became a bigger commercial success. Tiger 3, the direct sequel, will benefit from the popularity of its predecessors.
Salman Khan films have not performed significantly well in recent times. Farhad Samji’s action comedy Kisi Ka Bhai Kisi Ki Jaan (2023), a remake of Siva’s Tamil film Veeram (2014), was widely criticised for its screenplay and direction. KKBKKJ did not sink noiselessly, which was, well, a surprise. In Mahesh Manjrekar’s action film Antim: The Final Truth (2021), a remake of Pravin Tarde’s Marathi film Mulshi Pattern (2018), Khan surrendered a fair share of the limelight to Aayush Sharma. The film fared ordinarily in spite of its reasonable budget. Prabhu Deva’s action thriller Radhe: Your Most Wanted Bhai (2021) was a remake of Kang Yoon-sung’s South Korean film The Outlaws (2017). Critics trashed the film, and viewers in general did not like it either.
Tiger 3 is not the kind of film that can collapse without making some noise at the box office. However, Khan’s real challenge is that he must prove he can deliver a box-office monster of the kind SRK and Sunny Deol (Anil Sharma’s period drama Gadar 2) have done this year. Can he do it? Possibly, because he is Salman Khan.
The author, a journalist for three decades, writes on literature and pop culture. Among his books are ‘MSD: The Man, The Leader’, the bestselling biography of former Indian captain MS Dhoni, and the ‘Hall of Fame’ series of film star biographies. Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely that of the author. They do not necessarily reflect News18’s views.
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