MUMBAI: An actor’s power to deliver a hit at the box office, their ability to pull audience to the theatre is what makes one a star. Many actors try their luck in films in India but very few attain stardom. 

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One would assume that the Bollywood star with most hits as a lead actor would arguably be the biggest star but it is not as simple. After all, filmdom is not always simple arithmetic. 

This is the story of arguably the ‘most successful’ Bollywood actor ever, one who has 94 hits in his career, but was never referred to as a ‘superstar’.

Dharmendra is the Bollywood star with most hits under his belt through his career. The actor, who has been active in films for over 60 years, has appeared in 240 films, of which 94 have been successful at the box office. 

The last of these is Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani released earlier this year. Dharmendra was 87 when the film hit the theatres. The three Khans – Aamir, Salman, and Shah Rukh – are considered the three biggest stars in the industry in the last 30 years. 

Their combined success count is less. The three actors have 92 successful films in their careers combined (38 for Salman, 33 for Shah Rukh, and 21 for Aamir). That just underlines how successful and prolific Dharmendra has been through his career.

But the term ‘superstar’ has eluded Dharmendra despite his success. Very few actors have been called with that term in the history of Hindi cinema, starting with Dilip Kumar and Dev Anand to Rajesh Khanna and Amitabh Bachchan, and finally to the three Khans and Akshay Kumar. 

Dharmendra, despite having more hits than any of them, was never one. This is partially due to his high failure rate as well. Even though he has 74 hits and 94 successful films, Dharmendra also has 99 flops, including a surprising 37 disasters. 

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Additionally, most of his biggest hits like Sholay and Seeta Aur Geeta were not solo hits and had other stars’ contributions as well. This meant that he was never considered the alpha star at the box office.

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Credits - DNA