Akshay Kumar vs John Abraham vs Ajay Devgn: Who’s Bollywood’s king of patriotic cinema?

As three top Bollywood actors - Akshay Kumar, John Abraham and Ajay Devgn - enter the same space, here’s how their patriotic films match up to each other.

This week will see the release of John Abraham’s latest patriotic film, RAW - Romeo Akbar Walter. Billed as a true story, the film will show John in multiple roles, as he plays a pivotal part in India’s history, and is set during the Indo-Pak conflict of 1971.

From L: Ajay Devgn, Akshay Kumar and John Abraham have all entered the same space.

“Talking about the kind of films I am doing,” John told Hindustan Times in a recent interview, “we’re all India lovers, we love the country, and somewhere we all believe we’ve gravitated towards a film that is very special to us.”

Akshay Kumar recently delivered one of his biggest hits, the war drama Kesari. The film registered the biggest opening of the year so far, and has made ₹130 crore domestically. Kesari is the latest in a slew of patriotic films starring Akshay, most of which have been popular among the masses. “This film will always be very special since I wore the [army] uniform in it, which has always been very close to me,” Akshay recently said in an interview.

 

The third actor to have starred in similarly themed films is Ajay Devgn, whose 2018 release Raid almost hit the ₹100 crore mark domestically.

Each actor has, as John said, gravitated towards nationalistic-minded films in recent years. Their upcoming slate includes more such films, with John playing a policeman in a film based on the Batla House shootout. Akshay will star in Mission Mangal, based on India’s first interplanetary mission, and will also play Prithviraj Chauhan in an upcoming film. Ajay will appear in the period drama Tanhaji:The Unsung Warrior and a film based on Bhuj: The Pride of India.

Of the three, Akshay leads the way in sheer volumes, and therefore at the box office. Even the films which aren’t overtly patriotic find ways to insert nationalistic ideas in some manner, for example Rustom and Jolly LLB 2.

Here’s a rundown of Akshay’s recent films, at the box office and how they were received among critics.

Kesari - ₹131 crore, Rotten Tomatoes score - 36%
Gold - ₹102 crore, Rotten Tomatoes score - 55%
Toiler: Ek Prem Katha - ₹132 crore, Rotten Tomatoes score - 33%
Holiday: A Soldier is Never Off Duty - ₹112 crore, Rotten Tomatoes - N/A

Ajay Devgn

Raid - ₹98 crore, Rotten Tomatoes score - 60%

John Abraham

Satyameva Jayate - ₹79 crore, Rotten Tomatoes score - 18%
Parmanu: The Story of Pokhran - ₹64 crore, Rotten Tomatoes score - 50%

All numbers courtesy Box Office India, reviews courtesy Rotten Tomatoes.

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