This actor starred in only 15 flops in his entire career and gave more highest-grossers of the year than Shah Rukh Khan, Amitabh Bachchan, Salman Khan, and Rajesh Khanna.
The term superstar has been applied to a few actors in the history of Hindi cinema. Rajesh Khanna was often dubbed the first superstar while Amitabh Bachchan carried the mantle for the longest time. Since the 90s, Shah Rukh Khan, Salman Khan, Aamir Khan, and Akshay Kumar have been claimants to the title. And yet, there is one actor whose box office feats dwarf even these giants. This person, statistically, is Bollywood’s most successful actor ever.
The star who gave just 15 flops in 50 years
Dilip Kumar is regarded by many as the original superstar of Bollywood. The actor began his film career in 1944 and was active (with regular breaks) till his retirement in 1998. During this 56-year period, the selective actor worked in over 50 films but had a remarkable success rate, giving only 15 flops in his entire career. No other major actor with a sizable career comes close to this figure. Between the late-40s and mid-60s, Dilip Kumar hardly had a single unsuccessful film and starred in several of the highest-grossing films of the era, including Mughal-e-Azam, Naya Daur, and Aan.
The Dilip Kumar record that Shah Rukh, Amitabh, and Salman have failed to break
Dilip Kumar was the reigning king of the Indian box office from the late-1940s to the mid-60s and again during his resurgence in the 80s. In his career, the veteran actor starred in as many as 11 films that were the highest-grossing films of the year, including classics like Aan, Madhumati, Mughal-e-Azam, Ganga Jumna, and Jugnu. This is a record that no other actor has been able to break. Shah Rukh Khan comes close with 9, followed by Salman Khan with 8 and Amitabh Bachchan with 7. The most astonishing part of this record is that Dilip Kumar’s final number 1 hit came in 1986 (Karma) when he was 64 years old, and still a huge star.
