Salman Khan has once again proved unlucky when it comes to launching newcomers. While all of the superstar’s films routinely cross the Rs 100 crore mark, Khan’s last film Notebook starring Mohnish Bahl’s daughter Pranutan and Salman’s friend’s son Zaheer Iqbal barely made any impact, grossing only around Rs 3 crore till now.
Salman had earlier produced his brother-in-law Aayush Sharma’s launch film titled Love Yatri which also marked the debut of Warina Hussain. That film also made only around `7 crore. His film Hero which marked the debut of Aditya Pancholi’s son Sooraj along with Suniel Shetty’s daughter Athiya Shetty was an average grosser, raking in Rs 33 crore.
“Most of Salman’s films have done well in recent times barring Tubelight and Race 3. But the content of these films launching newcomers leaves a lot to be desired. A lot of bhai’s films have lacked content but did well because of his personal star power. But that has not translated in terms of the box-office as his fans have not rushed to see these films,” says a trade source.
Interestingly, the only heroine launched in a Salman Khan film who went on to become a star was Sonakshi Sinha. Others like Daisy Shah, Zareen Khan and previously, Sneha Ullal and Bhoomika Chawla have not made it big in Bollywood.
On the other hand, Karan Johar, who is basically a producer and director has a sterling track record. He launched Alia Bhatt, Sidharth Malhotra and Varun Dhawan in Student of The Year, Janhvi Kapoor and Ishan Khatter in Shashank Khaitan-directed Dhadak, and is launching Tara Sutaria and Ananya Pandey in Punit Malhotra’s Student Of the Year 2.
“Salman is an actor-turned-producer whereas Karan, being the son of a producer, understands the dynamics a lot more and is thoroughly involved in the process of filmmaking. Newcomers need training and grooming in the right manner before they are launched and he does that thoroughly,” says another trade analyst. Incidentally the Bhatt camp — Mahesh, Mukesh and Pooja Bhatt — were the only production house known to launch newcomers earlier — Pooja Bhatt, Bipasha Basu, Emraan Hashmi, John Abraham, Kangana Ranaut, and Sunny Leone. Ram Gopal Varma was also doing that for a while with Shiva and Satya before he turned filmmaking into a factory.
