Khans of Bollywood

Salman Khan (left), Shah Rukh Khan (middle), and Aamir Khan (right)

The term Khans of Bollywood refers to several actors of Bollywood, the Mumbai-based Hindi language Indian film industry, whose surnames are Khan. Most commonly, this involves the Three Khans: Shah Rukh Khan, Salman Khan and Aamir Khan. The three are unrelated, but happen to share the same surname,[1] and were all born in 1965.[2] Due to their longevity and high popularity, they are considered among the most successful movie stars in the history of Indian cinema.

The dominance of the three Khans at the Indian box office has been compared to that of the Marvel Cinematic Universe in Hollywood.[1] Shah Rukh Khan frequently appears among the top three wealthiest actors in the world, while Aamir Khan has been the only Eastern actor to be ranked first in the world's highest-earning actors in films, and Salman Khan has been the highest paid celebrity in South Asia several times. They have also earned critical acclaim, between them winning 6 National Film Awards and 26 Filmfare Awards. They are some of the most famous Indians known overseas, and some of the world's biggest movie stars.[3] They have been reported by various sources to command high salary packages up to ₹50 crore (US$8.53 million) per movie.[4][5][6] The three Khans have had successful careers since the late 1980s,[7] and have dominated the Indian box office since the 1990s, across three decades.[8]

Combined, they have starred in seven of the top ten highest-grossing Bollywood films ever, six out of ten highest-grossing Indian films,[9] and nearly every annual top-grossing Bollywood film between 1989 and 2017 (except for 1992–1993).[9][10][11] They officially created the 100 Crore Club:[12] the first films to gross ₹100 crore domestically was Salman's Hum Aapke Hain Koun (1994) [13][11] and Aamir Khan's Ghajini (2008) was the first to net ₹100 crore.[12] Aamir's Dangal (2016) created the Bollywood 1000 Crore Club, owing to its overseas success in Chinese markets, and eventually created the 2000 Crore Club, becoming the highest-grossing Indian film ever (worldwide and overseas), and one of the highest-grossing films in China and India, with his earnings from the film estimated to be ₹300 crore (US$46.07 million),[14] the highest payday for a non-Hollywood actor.[15] In 2014, Shah Rukh was the richest non-Hollywood actor and the richest actor in highest-paid the world, with an estimated net worth of US$290 million.[16] On the 2016 Forbes list of the 10 actors in the world, Salman ranked sixth, with total earnings of US$33.5 million for the year.[17] On 2017's [18] and 2018's [19] Forbes list of the ten highest-paid actors in the world, Salman Khan ranked ninth both years, earning $37 million and $38.5 million in 2017 and 2018, and one of the richest actors in the world with an estimated net worth of USD $347 Million as of 2024.[20]

In addition to the three Khans, there have been other Khans in Bollywood. The most famous Khan prior to them was Dilip Kumar, whose real name is Muhammad Yusuf Khan, for which he has been referred to as the "First Khan" of Bollywood. Kumar was the biggest Indian star of the 1950s and 1960s,[21] a matinee idol and the country's highest paid actor of the period.[22] His 1960 film Mughal-e-Azam was the first Indian film with an adjusted gross over ₹2000 crore, making it the highest-grossing Indian film for over six decades.[23][24] The term "fourth Khan" is used to refer to Saif Ali Khan.

  1. ^ a b Cain, Rob. "Are Bollywood's Three Khans The Last Of The Movie Kings?". Forbes. Retrieved 4 July 2018.
  2. ^ "Fab At 50: A Tale Of Three Khans". Huffington Post. 8 June 2015.
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference movie-star was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ "Top 10 Highest Paid Bollywood Actors 2015". Sportrichlist.com. 21 November 2013. Archived from the original on 2 December 2013. Retrieved 19 September 2015.
  5. ^ Sengar, Resham (12 November 2013). "Take home salary of top 7 Bollywood stars | Zee News". Zeenews.india.com. Retrieved 19 September 2015.
  6. ^ "Top 10 Highest Paid Bollywood Actors". Listtoptens.com. Archived from the original on 14 October 2013. Retrieved 19 September 2015.
  7. ^ "The Three Khans of Bollywood - DESIblitz". 18 September 2012. Retrieved 4 July 2018.
  8. ^ "Why Aamir Khan Is The King Of Khans: Foreign Media". Retrieved 4 July 2018.
  9. ^ a b "Top Worldwide Grossers All Time". www.boxofficeindia.com. Retrieved 4 July 2018.
  10. ^ "Boxofficeindia.com". 14 October 2013. Archived from the original on 14 October 2013. Retrieved 4 July 2018.
  11. ^ a b "Boxofficeindia.com". 14 October 2013. Archived from the original on 14 October 2013. Retrieved 4 July 2018.
  12. ^ a b "Aamir Khan's 10 BIGGEST Hits". Retrieved 4 July 2018.
  13. ^ "The 100 Crore Worldwide Grossers: 34 Films Since 1994". Box Office India. Archived from the original on 25 April 2012. Retrieved 19 December 2011.
  14. ^ Dangal's China success may have brought Aamir Khan a neat Rs 100 crore paycheque, Firstpost, 7 June 2017
  15. ^ Cain, Rob. "Aamir Khan's China Paycheck For 'Dangal' Could Exceed Rs. 100 Crore / $15 MM". Forbes.
  16. ^ Sinha, Kounteya. "Shah Rukh Khan second richest actor in the world - Times of India ►". The Times of India. Retrieved 4 July 2018.
  17. ^ "Salman Khan - In Photos: The World's Highest-Paid Actors 2015". Forbes. 1 January 1970. Retrieved 19 September 2015.
  18. ^ "The World's Highest-Paid Actors 2017". Forbes.
  19. ^ "9. Salman Khan". Forbes.
  20. ^ "Salman Khan | Family, Movies, Net Worth, Court Cases, & Philanthropic Work | Britannica".
  21. ^ An, Gautam (3 January 2019). "Here's the Full List of Best and Greatest Bollywood Actors of All Time". The Cinemaholic. Retrieved 27 September 2021.
  22. ^ Menon, Nikhil (31 March 2022). Planning Democracy. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-1-316-51733-8.
  23. ^ Cite error: The named reference gold was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  24. ^ Cite error: The named reference gold3 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).