With the Ramayana as the central element, the coming together of Ajay Devgn, Akshay Kumar, Ranveer Singh and Tiger Shroff along with Kareena Kapoor and Deepika Padukone upped the superstar quotient.
IMAGE: Kajal Aggarrwal and Ajay Devgn in Singham.
Back in 2011 when Singham released, it was meant to be yet another commercial masala movie to arrive in theatres.
Ajay Devgn and Rohit Shetty had set their eyes on officially remaking the Suriya-starrer Tamil film Singham and though a few wondered whether this title would be acceptable in the Hindi belt, going by the blockbuster success of Ghajini. it all seemed eventually possible.
The film took a good opening of Rs 8.94 crore (Rs 89.4 million). It wasn’t anything extraordinary but still gave the film a platform to grow.
There was appreciation for the film, especially in Maharashtra, and powered by that, it went on to have a long run in theatres.
Ajay Devgn’s bravura cop act as Bajirao Singham was much appreciated and Rohit Shetty’s hold over the masala genre got a thumbs up too.
The film emerged a good hit after it made Rs 100.30 crore (Rs 1.3 billion).
IMAGE: Kareena Kapoor and Ajay Devgn in Singham Returns.
This is when the makers thought of taking the franchise to the next level.
In south, Suriya was already making Singham 2 and 3.
But in Bollywood, the franchise was taken ahead as standalone films with no connection or inspiration with the south version.
Singham Returns arrived in 2014.
There was widespread excitement around the film since by the time it released, Singham had become a rage on the satellite television circuit.
There was no OTT at that time and television reruns made Bajirao Singham a household name.
There wasn’t much influx of social media evangelisation either and hence the craze around the film was organic.
IMAGE: Kareena Kapoor and Ajay Devgn in Singham Returns.
Released on Independence Day, Singham Returns took a fabulous opening of Rs 32.09 crore (Rs 320.9 million), which was more than thrice the first day number of Singham.
Despite such fantastic numbers, the lifetime collections was less than one-and-a-half times that of Singham.
The film crossed Rs 100 crore (Rs 1 billion) mark in its first week itself, due to the Singham brand as well as the national holiday. But after that, it couldn’t take the momentum forward, as there was widespread comparison with Singham.
Ajay did well as an actor and Rohit upped the action quotient as well but somehow, audiences wanted more.
IMAGE: Deepika Padukone, Ajay Devgn, Tiger Shroff and Ranveer Singh in Singham Again.
This is what led to a decade long wait for Singham Again. Instead of jumping into the third instalment in a hurry, Ajay and Rohit took their time to crack a unique idea.
For that, Rohit expanded the universe, bringing in his other big hits, Simmba (Rs 240.31 crore/Rs 2.403 billion) and Sooryavanshi (Rs 196 crore/Rs 1.96 billion).
Singham Again is as big as anything Bollywood has created so far.
With the Ramayana as the central element, the coming together of Ajay Devgn, Akshay Kumar, Ranveer Singh and Tiger Shroff along with Kareena Kapoor and Deepika Padukone upped the superstar quotient.
In addition, Arjun Kapoor is making a huge impact as well as the film’s antagonist.
IMAGE: Ajay Devgn and Ranveer Singh in Singham Again.
So despite a clash with Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3, Singham Again is set to take a huge start.
Ajay and Rohit are probably aiming for the film to enter the Rs 300 Crore Club (Rs 3 billion).
Let’s wait and watch.
Note: All collections as per various box office sources.
