If Salman Khan's 'worst film' Sikandar can open better than SRK's Dunki, it proves his superstardom is alive and well

Opinion: Salman Khan's Sikandar was labelled his ‘worst, weakest’ film by many critics upon its release. Yet, it managed to upstage several Bollywood biggies.

There has seldom been a bigger gap in the buzz of two superstar-led films. For Shah Rukh Khan, Dunki came at his best phase in years, three months after he gave back-to-back ₹1000-crore hits. It was his first collaboration with the hitmaker Rajkumar Hirani, and the buzz was skyrocketing. For Salman Khan, Sikandar did not seem like his usual film. The chatter was all about his supposed weight gain and age gap with the female lead. He also had not had a clean blockbuster in eight years. Yet, the opening day for both the films was comparable, with Sikandar actually edging ahead in India. You may want to write as many obituaries for Salman's career and stardom, Sikandar is proof that it is alive, well, and kicking. (

Sikandar was dubbed Salman Khan's 'worst' or 'weakest' film by many critics. Yet, it has earned ₹200 crore worldwide.

How Sikandar was carried by Salman Khan

Sikandar was AR Murugadoss' return to Hindi. But that goodwill had eroded in the 17 years since Ghajini's success. He returned to Hindi audiences almost as a fresh name. The film's publicity was subdued, and the chatter around was largely neutral or negative. Despite that (as well as largely negative reviews), Sikandar opened at ₹30 crore net in India on its first day, higher than Dunki's ₹29 crore opening day from December 2023. Granted that Sikandar was a mass entertainer and Dunki was a social drama, which means the latter was expected to start slow, but the other factors against Sikandar make this 'win' quite surprising.

Naturally, with negative word of mouth, Sikandar's collections fell soon after Eid. But despite that, the film has earned over ₹100 crore in India and ₹200 crore worldwide. These are numbers that most non-Khan, non-Ranbir/Hrithik actors aspire to reach. And here is Salman Khan, casually sauntering past these landmarks with a film called his worst. Oh, and he did this in just over a week.

The prognosis is simple. Sikandar's collections prove Salman Khan's superstardom is alive and well. His loyal fans do not care that the film is substandard. They will turn up for him in droves and make sure the film gets a good start. As the actor said in a press conference before the release, his fans ensure a film crosses ₹200 crore. Even Aamir Khan's Laal Singh Chaddha struggled to surpass ₹125 crore. Before his break, Shah Rukh was struggling to reach ₹200 crore in films like Zero and Raees. However, Salman is still managing that easily in what may be the lowest phase in his career in over 15 years.

But dear Salman, now it's time to listen to your fans

The fans have shown that they want to back Salman. They will buy tickets for him, land up at the theatres in big numbers, and even fight social media negativity for their star (believe me, there was a lot of that). Yet, the fans are not getting their due. Between Kisi Ka Bhai Kisi Ki Jaan and Sikandar, there are many Salman fans whose devotion must have been tested. More so when they see Shah Rukh Khan delivering Pathaan and Jawan in the same duration, setting new box office records.

At an informal meet and greet after Sikandar's release, fans requested the star to 'do more films like Bajrangi Bhaijaan'. The message is clear - focus on quality. And we will bring the madness. There is no reason why Salman can't turn it around if he wants to. He still has the pull. If he can touch ₹30 crore in India on a lacklustre film like Sikandar, imagine the peaks he can still scale with a film 'deserving' of that star power. Whether that will happen and when it will happen is all up to Salman now.

All views expressed here are the author's own. They do not necessarily reflect those of the publication.