Will Salman’s PRDP join 15 other Bollywood magnum opus that were worth the hype?

Prem Ratan Dhan Payo is set to be huge, really huge. If the hype built over more than a year pretty much suggested that, the kind of marketing and promotional campaign that has been designed for the Salman Khan-Sooraj Barjatya-Sonam Kapoor flick indicates that as well. Rajshri and Fox have made it quite apparent that this dream project is a magnum opus in the making and time and again, there have been films that have actually managed to live up to the claims.

Will Prem Ratan Dhan Payo join the ranks too? Let’s take a look.

(Collections marked with * against them are for films that were released long back. The adjusted collections while accounting for inflation would be way higher. These are nett collections in the year of release)

Mughal-e-Azam – 6 crore*

This is the stuff that legends are made of. A film that was a decade in the making, Mughal-e-Azam more than lived up to the kind of expectations that were surrounding it. Director K. Asif made sure that every penny that was spent in the Prithviraj Kapoor-Dilip Kumar-Madhubala film spoke for itself when the frames appeared on the big screen.

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Pakeezah – 6 crore*

Kamal Amrohi was not known to think small and that was quite apparent for Pakeezah too, which was close to a decade and a half in the making. A lot went into getting the frames correct for the film and it was nothing short of a miracle that the Meena Kumari starrer actually saw the light of the day. Hailed as a classic today, especially due to its rich and authentic depiction of ‘kothas’, the film was a good success.

Mother India – 6 crore*

A Mehboob Khan film, Mother India was one of the most expensive films ever made on its release. With a super starcast comprising of Nargis, Sunil Dutt, Rajendra Kumar and Raaj Kumar no less, the film was a huge affair and carried immense expectations. Multiple screenings were held to add on to the hype, all of which proved to be more than worth it.

Sholay – 15 crore*

Meanwhile, a classic that continues to live on and find audience in the most number of re-releases ever for a Hindi film, Sholay has been a subject of many a case studies in the last four decades. No one can really decipher what went behind the making of this classic, even as countless books, documentaries and debates have been dedicated to this Ramesh Sippy affair.

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Saudagar – 6 crore*

When an announcement comes in for a film that brings Dilip Kumar and Raj Kumar together, it is massive in itself. Now add on Jackie Shroff, Anupam Kher and Amrish Puri to it with a new lead pair of Vivek Mushran and Manisha Koirala and you knew there and then that Subhash Ghai was on a mission. The Showman did everything that was required to give Saudagar a magnum opus status.

3 Idiots – 202 crore

Rajkumar Hirani’s films gain from the fact that they are not designed as classics but ultimately turn out to be one when audience gives them a huge thumbs up. This was the case with 3 Idiots too, his most universally acclaimed film till date, which was made with a good mix of conviction and passion. A risky affair, considering the fact that Aamir Khan was playing a college student, it lived up to every bit of the hype.

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Krrish and Krrish 3 [69 crore and 178 crore respectively]

Whenever Rakesh Roshan comes behind the camera, he pretty much knows that he is delivering something unique to the audience. He did that first with Krrish when he went all out to hail India’s most popular superhero. Later with Krrish 3, he fired all cylinders and came up with one of the best VFX laden flicks that Bollywood has ever seen.

Dhoom 3 – 284 crore

The Dhoom series stays on to be the biggest franchise of action flicks in India and with Dhoom 3, Aditya Chopra was sure that he had to deliver something extraordinary. He took his time in bringing the film on floors and then played a gamble of roping in Vijay Krishna Acharya as the director, despite a flop Tashan behind him. With Aamir Khan in a double role, the team delivered, and how.

Goliyon Ki Raasleela Ram-Leela – 106 crore

Sanjay Leela Bhansali, with an exception of his debut flick Khamoshi, has always played with big budgets, big backdrops and big frames. With Goliyon Ki Raasleela Ram-Leela, he went all out and since the film’s plot line too warranted a magnum opus treatment, nothing really looked out of place for the Ranveer Singh-Deepika Padukone starrer.

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Om Shanti Om – 80 crore

Farah Khan was never set out to create a classic but truly gave Shahrukh Khan his biggest film till then in the form of Om Shanti Om. As the film went from inception to execution phase, its budget kept increasing and the stage and setting started getting bigger and better. As a producer, Shahrukh stopped counting the expense and Farah didn’t disappoint either by giving him a blockbuster no less.

Robot – 150 crore plus

Shankar certainly knows how to mount his films and when he brought in Rajinikanth on board for his dream film Robot (Endhiran in Tamil), he wanted to spare no expense. The special effects that were put together for the film stay on to be unmatchable while the overall scale is stupendous too. With Aishwarya Rai Bachchan as the leading lady and A.R. Rahman as a composer, the film was every bit a mega affair.

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Lagaan – 30 crore

A.R. Rahman has been a part of quite a few classics that the Indian film industry has delivered and Lagaan stays on to be one of them. During its making, neither Aamir Khan nor his director Ashutosh Gowariker had assumed that they were making one of the most unforgettable films in the history of Indian cinema. However, the film continues to live on and along with it, the legacy continues.

Jodhaa Akbar – 62 crore

Another major film helmed by Ashutosh Gowariker was Jodhaa Akbar. Right from its announcement, the message was quite clear for the industry that this one was going to be one of the biggest historical of all times. Gowariker along with Hrithik Roshan didn’t disappoint as the end result had everything impeccable on picture perfect frames.

Border – 30 crore*

A classic war drama that never fails to bring on goose-bumps even as more than half a decade has gone by since its release, Border stays on to be an epic action drama from J.P. Dutta. With a powerhouse star cast at his disposal and a technical team that did justice to the research material that he had in hand, Dutta has made the last of the war classics that Bollywood has ever produced.

Hum Aapke Hain Kaun – 60 crore*

A film that was looked at quite suspiciously before its arrival, Hum Aapke Hain Kaun was released at a mere dozen odd prints on its release. Still, it went on to run for months and months in succession, hence emerging as an All Time Blockbuster. Sooraj Barjatya knew in his heart that he was making an epic movie and audiences gave a nod of approval as well once Salman Khan and Madhuri Dixit came on frame.

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