Tiger Shroff at the Box Office: A Decade of Highs, Lows, and Star Power

It was the year 2014 when Tiger Shroff made a splash debut with Sajid Naidadwala’s Heropanti, the film after a long time introduced an actor who had a natural prowess in action and had agility in his dance moves. Back then there were no discussions about nepotism as Jackie Shroff’s son had a smooth entry into the movies. His debut film Heropanti minted Rs 6.63 on it’s day 1- a huge number for a non-star actor and the film went on the become a roaring success as the movie minted Rs 52.92 crore and thus gave the industry the present generation’s first action star. His journey is a case study in how star-driven action cinema has evolved in Bollywood.Post Heropanti, Tiger continued to build on his action image as he teamed up once again with director Sabbir Khan for Baaghi opposite Shraddha Kapoor. The film had an even bigger opening than Heropanti as it collected Rs 11.94 crore on first day and ended it’s theatrical run with Rs 76.34 crore , a clear hit and with it was born his first franchise. Taking his action image ahead he was next seen in Remo D’Souza superhero film A Flying Jatt but the film fizzled out quickly with a lifetime collection of just Rs 38.61 crore. When action didn’t work, Tiger turned to his second best skill and that was dance. His next with Munna Micheal where he teamed up with Heropanti and Baaghi director Saabir Khan in the hope to recreate the magic of their first two films. Tiger played a dancer in the film but the film fizzled out as soon as it collected just Rs 32.89 crore.But just like every night has a day, Tiger’s fortunes changed with his next film Baaghi 2, he was paired opposite his then love interest Disha Pataani and the film directed by Ahmed Khan set the box office on fire. The film minted Rs 25.10 crore on day 1. one of the highest openers of that year. Its weekend collection stood at Rs 73.10 crore, and it stormed past Rs 112.85 crore in Week 1. With a lifetime of ₹164.38 crore, it was declared a Super-Hit.With Baaghi 2 Tiger became a bankable star. Looking at this success at the box office with three hits and two flops, he was approached by Karan Johar’s production house for Student of the Year sequel with newcomers Tara Sutaria and Ananya Panday. The film got middling success as it opened to Rs 12.06 crore and had a lifetime collection of Rs 69.11 crore. But Tiger’s biggest success came in 2019 when he teamed up with his screen idol Hrithik Roshan for Aditya Chopra and Siddharth Anand’s War. The film opened to Rs 53.35 crore on day 1 and ended with a lifetime collection of Rs 318 crore. It still remains Tiger’s biggest grosser. The success of War gave birth to Aditya Chopra’s Spy Universe and thereby linking Tiger , Pathaan and War stories. Now post War expectations were sky high from Tiger as he was returning to his extremely famous Baaghi franchise for the third part. The film had a strong opening of Rs 17 crore and went on to collect Rs 93.37 crore collection but made a huge budget the film was a moderate success. Tiger also tried to revamp his Heropanti series but the film was a complete washout as it earned just Rs 24.45 crore in its lifetime collection. Tiger’s woes were only getting started as his next film Ganapath -A Hero Is Born tanked badly and collected only Rs 9.70 crore. His downward trend continued with the next film , a reboot of Amitabh Bachchan and Govinda’s film Bade Miyan Chote Miyan. This one was directed by Ali Abbas Zafar and despite releasing on Eid, the film only ended up collecting just Rs 59.17 crore and was a flop. Tiger Shroff’s box office journey has been a roller-coaster. With 11 films across 10 years, he has delivered one Blockbuster (War), one Super-Hit (Baaghi 2), two Semi-Hits (Baaghi, Baaghi 3), one Hit (Heropanti), and multiple flops. Keeping his flops aside Tiger is one of the most known action star of his generation and needs just the right script to make a comeback and many hope that his latest release Baaghi 4 could be that one film to bring him back in the limelight.