Bollywood’s most successful Khan grossed ₹25000 cr at box office, more than Shah Rukh, Salman Khan, Aamir Khan combined

It is a testament to their domination of Hindi cinema that the three Khans have starred in most of the highest-grossing Bollywood films over the last three decades.

One or the other of Shah Rukh Khan, Salman Khan, and Aamir Khan have led 90% of the biggest films in Hindi cinema during this period. So one would assume that Bollywood’s ‘most successful’ Khan would be either of these three. But that depends on what metric one chooses for success. If it is simply box office collections globally, then a fourth name – a rather surprising one at that – beats these three superstars.

Bollywood’s most successful Khan

As lead stars, there is no denying Shah Rukh Khan, Salman Khan, and Aamir Khan’s box office pull. In their career, they are the top draw at the ticket window. Shah Rukh’s films have collectively earned just under ₹9000 crore at the box office worldwide, while Salman ( ₹7000 crore) and Aamir ( ₹6500 crore) follow closely behind.

Together, their films (including overlaps like Karan Arjun and Andaz Apna Apna) have earned ₹22,000 crore. But the figure is less than what the films featuring the late Irrfan Khan have earned. Courtesy of his stellar Hollywood career that allowed him to star in many big blockbusters, Irrfan was able to leap past his more popular Bollywood colleagues. In a career that spanned over 25 years, Irrfan’s Indian films earned just over ₹2000 crore. But the bulk of his box office earnings came from his Hollywood releases, which have a combined gross of over $2.5 billion ( ₹22,500 crore).

However, one might argue that the OG Khans still win this as most of their films had them in the lead, while Irrfan was largely playing the supporting role to bigger stars like Chris Pratt (Jurassic World), Andrew Garfield (The Amazing Spider-Man), and Tom Hanks (Inferno).

Irrfan Khan’s stellar Hollywood career

Irrfan made a name for himself in Hindi cinema in the early 2000s with critically acclaimed performances in Haasil, Maqbool, Life in a Metro, and Paan Singh Tomar. His breakthrough in the West came with a supporting role in Danny Boyle’s Oscar-winning film Slumdog Millionaire. This led to small but significant roles in Hollywood blockbusters such as The Amazing Spider-Man (2012), Life of Pi (2012), Jurassic World (2015), and Inferno (2016). His last English language film, Puzzle, starred him in the lead role alongside Kelly Macdonald. Irrfan was diagnosed with cancer in 2018, to which he succumbed in 2020. He was 53.