Bollywood star Rajkumar Rao is experiencing a great phase of success these days. In three months, three of Rajkumar’s films have seen box office success and among them is his latest film ‘Stree 2’ which is earning a lot of money in theatres.
This film, which has been making record-breaking earnings from the very first day, has collected more than Rs 400 crore worldwide and has become the biggest Hindi film of 2024. Earlier in May, Rajkumar’s ‘Srikanth’ and ‘Mr. and Mrs. Mahi’ brought back to back success.
While Rajkumar has always been one of the public’s favourite actors, his films have never achieved such a massive box office success. He does a little different kind of films, which are not always very strong in terms of business. However, these films of Rajkumar may not earn a lot, but gradually they get their share of audience.
For Rajkumar’s fans who are looking forward to a huge success in 2024, it is a matter of great joy that his films are earning well at the box office. And this box office success will surely bring Rajkumar even bigger projects. But have you noticed that there is a very interesting pattern in Rajkumar Rao’s box office success?
The hero of a story of women
Although Rajkumar Rao is the lead hero in his latest success ‘Stree 2’, this film of his brings a message about the treatment of women in society through the male character. In the film, Rajkumar’s character ‘Bikki’ is seen rescuing girls suffering from the wrath of Sarkate Pret. But this is not the only film in which Rajkumar is bringing forward a story of women’s welfare through his character and he is also getting box office success.
The trend started from the beginning of career
Rajkumar Rao made his debut in 2010 with the film ‘Love Sex Aur Dhokha’ and his second film was ‘Ragini MMS’ (2011). Both these films came at a time when, after the internet became accessible to everyone, crimes against women using digital technology were being highlighted for the first time. Both these films of Rajkumar were successful at the box office.
The next box office success in her career came 3 years later with Kangana Ranaut starrer ‘Queen’ (2014). Kangana played the role of a girl whose fiancé betrays her two days before the wedding. After this, the dejected girl explores the world and her life in a new way and becomes the ‘queen’ of her life. Rajkumar Rao played the role of Kangana’s cheating fiancé in this film. This film was the biggest film of Rajkumar’s career at that time.
‘Bareilly Ki Barfi’ and ‘Stree’ took it forward
After this, Rajkumar waited for 3 years again for the next box office success, which finally ended with ‘Bareilly Ki Barfi’. The story of the film was woven around the character of Kriti Sanon. It was the story of a girl who wants to live in the world on her own terms and is surprised to find a character like herself in a book.
This girl tests the young writer who is writing the book to see if he really loves her for her personality or because he loves her because she reminds him of the character he wrote?! Rajkumar’s role in this story was equal to that of Ayushman Khurana who played the lead role in the film and he again got a successful film at the box office. Another interesting thing in the film was that Rajkumar’s character actually worked at a saree shop and the macho man he tries to be is not like that in reality.
Rajkumar’s biggest hit ‘Stree’ was released in 2018. This film with Shraddha Kapoor not only made people big fans of Rajkumar, but also gave him the success of 100 crores. This became the first superhit film of his career.
Explosion happened in 2024
This year, Rajkumar Rao has got three successful films – Shrikant, Mr. and Mrs. Mahi and Stree 2. Two of these are stories of girls and Rajkumar is playing the role of the hero who takes the story to its conclusion.
In ‘Mr. and Mrs. Mahi’, Rajkumar played the role of a boy who fails in cricket. After marriage, he pushes his wife to play cricket and also trains her himself. His character does this work for his own happiness but it gives wings to a girl to fly her dreams, which she had not even imagined.
Made on a budget of around 40 crores, ‘Mr. and Mrs. Mahi’ collected more than 51 crores worldwide and brought a small success. And then ‘Stree 2’ made such a blast that shook the entire industry. Now Rajkumar Rao is the most hit hero of the industry in 2024.
Another angle of his success story is very interesting… Initially he was playing the villain in girls’ stories, but now he has become the hero of girls in his films. In the era of ‘alpha male’ heroes, being a part of such stories and achieving success is something for which Rajkumar Rao must be praised.
Now it will be interesting to see what kind of story Rajkumar brings to the big screen in his next film ‘Vicky Vidya Ka Woh Wala Video’ (October 2024) and what gift the public gives to his film in theatres this time.
Source (PTI) (NDTV) (HINDUSTANTIMES)