PRDP, Dabangg: 5 films that made Salman Khan Bollywood’s biggest star

This EID, Salman Khan's upcoming film Sultan will be hitting the theatres. The film is based on Sultan Ali Khan, a wrestler hailing from Haryana, who faces problems while juggling his personal and proffessional life, also stars Anuskha Sharma.

If you look at Salman Khan’s soaring career graph today, it is hard to imagine a time when his career had nosedived and one heard his name mentioned more in terms of controversies than box office successes.

Between 2005 and 2009, he gave a string of flops punctuated with a lone hit, Partner. The film industry’s Prem was in need of rescuing, and we mean both his image and demi-god status at BO. With films like Maine Pyaar Kiya, Hum Aapke Hain Koun, Karan Arjun and Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam in his kitty, he was a superstar already but facing a tough time ahead.

We bring you five films since 2009 that cemented Salman’s position and made him film industry’s biggest star at present. A look!

Wanted made Salman a darling of single-screen theatres once again. With its whistle-a-minute dialogues and action, the film became a money spinner. It earned Rs 61 crore in 2009, which may not sound a lot today but was big money back then.

At box office figures of Rs 138.88 and Rs 155.00 crore, Dabangg and Dabangg 2 ensured that multiplex audience was digging Bhai as much as those thronging single-screen theatres. And he got a franchise all his own too!

This Salman blockbuster Ek Tha Tiger made critics happy too. It also started his relationship with director Kabir Khan and together they will give the biggest hit of Salman’s career 2.0 in 2015.

With Bajrangi Bhaijaan, Salman gave his image a much-needed makeover. His simple and innocent character of Hanuman Bhakt Pawan Kumar Chaturvedi won the hearts of many and their love for the one and only Bhaijaan also reflected at the box office numbers. The movie earned a phenomenal Rs 320.34 crores. His role of Bajrangi also fetched him a string of awards.

Before Sultan, Prem Ratan Dhan Paayo got a blockbuster opening at BO. Sooraj Barjatya is to Salman’s career what Yashraj is to Shah Rukh’s. With PRDP, Salman’s Prem was back and that was something to cheer about. The film was panned by critics but still made Rs 208.88 crores at box office.