MULTI-STARRERS: A recipe for success. Will Kalank taste as good?

 Source: Bollywood 

Last week the internet was taken by storm when Kalank’s teaser was released.  With over 26 million views in 24 hours on Youtube, it marked the record for the most number of views for a teaser in a day.  A multi-starrer, big-budgeted, period film with stars like Sanjay Dutt, Madhuri Dixit, Varun Dhawan, Alia Bhatt, Aditya Roy Kapur and Sonakshi Sinha, the project has success written over it since the word go. The excitement for the movie was quite evident since its announcement, and the makers of the film cashed on it very cleverly.  The character posters were released first to increase audience’s anticipation, and created buzz all over social media.  Recently, the first song of the movie Ghar more pardesiya was released and appreciated all over social media.

Multi-starrer movies have (almost) always found success in the Indian Film Industry.  Maybe it is the star power of the casting, the pleasure of seeing such powerful actors come together on screen that attracts audiences to theatres.  But, no matter what, this experiment always brings result, and these results set box office on fire and sends the producer on his way to the bank.  Dharma Productions has been like a veteran of multi-starrers and after Kalank, it has Takht next in line.  So, before we delve into the world of Kalank, let’s take a look at some of the most successful multi-starrer movies of Bollywood.

·        HUM SAATH SAATH HAIN (HSSH)

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I need to begin with this, because HSSH not only introduced me to multi-starrer movies, it actually was the first movie I remember seeing.  With Salman Khan, Saif Ali Khan, Karisma Kapoor, Sonali Bendre, Tabu and Mohnish Behl as the cast, the film was any producer’s treasure at that time.  With the plot line based loosely on Ramayana, the film had everything in its favour.  And damn did it deliver. HSSH eventually turned out to be the highest grossing Bollywood film of 1999.

·        KABHI KHUSHI KABHI GHAM (K3G)

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K3G is the childhood, go-to movie for every 90s kid.  As said earlier, Karan Johar is like the baap of multi-starrer.  If anyone had the power to bring together superstars of two separate generations, Amitabh Bachchan and Shah Rukh Khan along with Jaya Bachchan, Kajol, Hrithik Roshan and Kareena Kapoor, it had to be him.  We Indians are obsessed with our celebrities, family movies and drama, and K3G had it all.  And who could forget the gem that it gave us….Poo.  Poo has been the dream role of every aspiring as well as established commercial actress since then.  The film eventually became the second highest grossing film of 2001 and the highest grossing bollywood film internationally.

Source: Giphy

·        KABHI ALVIDA NA KEHNA (KANK)

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There’s only one person who can break Karan Johar’s records, and that is Karan Johar himself.  KANK saw the return of Shah Rukh Khan and Amitabh Bachchan coming together, just the other cast members changed.  This time they had Abhishek Bachchan, Rani Mukherji and Priety Zinta as the co-stars.  The movie dealt with a controversial topic like adultery, a concept awkward for Indians to talk about even now, and that was 2006.  Thus, the movie did business, but it still remains the lowest grossing movie of Johar till now.  However, the movie was widely appreciated and accepted in international markets, and emerged as the highest grossing Bollywood movie internationally.  And that’s how Johar defeated Johar.

Source: Giphy

Indian Film Industry is filled with such multi-starrers like Golmaal series, Rajneeti, Dil Dhadakne Do and Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara, and the common factor among all of them is that they all were huge box-office ringers.  Maybe it’s the star-studdedness, the pleasure of seeing such powerful actors come together on screen that attracts audiences to theatres.  But this is a tried and tested formula and it sure is going to work for a long time to come.  Kalank is looking at a big business at box-office and the lack of any good, big multi-starrer in recent years can work in its favor.  Now, we just have to wait and watch. 

What are your views? Share your favourite multi-starrer movies in the comments section below.