Why Ajay Devgn is Bollywood’s star of 2022, a year when the industry reels under flops

Uncanny, how Ajay Devgn’s new superhit Drishyam 2 bears a likeness with the Bollywood actor. The film maintained an unassuming run for most parts since its debut at the box office, gradually grew on the audience over time and, before you knew it, was being hailed as a success story by the trade and critics alike. Story of Devgn’s career, actually.

Drishyam 2 consolidates Ajay Devgn ’s stature as Bollywood’s star of 2022, a year when not much has gone right for the industry. Devgn’s latest is among the few Hindi releases that made money, along with The Kashmir Files , Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2 , Gangubai Kathiawadi  and Brahmastra . Of these, The Kashmir Files emerged as the highest-grossing Hindi film with a nett collection of over Rs 252.90 crore in the domestic market, but the film’s phenomenal success was driven by modest budgeting than star cast. The multi-starrer, Brahmastra, with a Rs 257.44 crore India nett haul and a global gross of above Rs 430 crore, may have covered its mighty budget, but the film is far from securing enough returns to earn a superhit tag. Devgn’s Drishyam 2 has emerged ahead of Bollywood’s other star-driven masala fare that made it to the charts this year. The film has netted over Rs 230 crore in the domestic market (and still counting), ahead of Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2 (Rs 185.92 crore India nett) and Gangubai Kathiawadi (over Rs 129.10 crore India nett). Wikipedia ranks Drishyam 2 as the eighth highest-grossing Indian film of 2022, a year when Kannada (KGF: Chapter 2; Kantara), Telugu (RRR), and Tamil (Ponniyin Selvan: I; Vikram) films caught fancy of the pan-India box office while Bollywood reeled under boycott threats.

Incidentally, if you consider he also had important cameos in RRR and Gangubai Kathiawadi, Devgn is actually in the credits of three of the year’s biggest hits. In this context, 2022 reiterates his game plan to opt for multiple releases in a year. Contrary to almost every other star who prefers working on one film at a time, Devgn, like Akshay Kumar, tries maintaining a regular flow of releases in a calendar year. While Kumar currently struggles with a multitude of flops, the tactic has worked well for Devgn through most of his career of over three decades since his 1991 debut, Phool Aur Kaante, mainly because his impact rests on an innate ability to grow quietly on the popular psyche by not being absent from the marquee for too long. Besides Drishyam 2 and his two cameos, Devgn also courted success on OTT this year, with a smashing debut in the crime thriller show, Rudra: The Edge Of Darkness .

There were the downsides, too. His latest directorial effort Runway 34 crashlanded, netting just above Rs 33.51 crore in the domestic market and his Diwali release Thank God hardly fared better, collecting around Rs 32.98 crore. But Devgn had clearly saved his best for the last. The spectacular show of Drishyam 2 evens out the below-expectation performances of his past two releases, and also consolidates his branding as a solo hero.

For, Devgn’s branding has had to be unique all along given his unconventional looks and screen personality. Over the past three decades, the actor has maintained his position among the Bollywood power set along with the three Khans and Akshay Kumar even as younger stars as Hrithik Roshan, Ranveer Singh, Ranbir Kapoor and, lately, Kartik Aryan came calling. Devgn’s USP lies in his ability to connect with the masses utilising his intense screen persona that blends machismo with the occasional restrained bursts of melodrama and humour. From his debut act in Phool Aur Kaante, it is an image that has sustained his success down the decades, notably through roles in Vijaypath, Zakhm, Company, The Legend Of Bhagat Singh, Gangaajal, Omkara, Once Upon A Time in Mumbai, Singham and Tanhaji, and even when he occasionally broke away to try romance (Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam) or comedy (the Golmaal franchise).

All along, he built his superstardom by balancing his attributes as a bankable actor, a restrained superstar, a private celebrity who is non-controversial as a political and public entity and a family man. Importantly, Devgn is a smart businessman, a trait that reflects in the productions he chooses to back. It is something that made him recognise why Drishyam 2 could be a winner despite the fact that the first film, released in 2015, was far from blockbuster stuff.

Drishyam 2015 had struggled to recreate the magic of the Mohanlal-starrer Malayalam original of the same name on which it was based. Devgn’s Drishyam 2 serves the franchise’s signature cocktail of clever suspense and realistic family drama better than its predecessor. Notably, the film spotlights a significant point at this stage of the 53-year-old superstar’s career. Devgn’s protagonist Vijay Salgaonkar is ridden with angst, but he is far more mellowed than the Singham prototype that has dominated the actor’s image in recent years. Over two films, Vijay is a common man whose sole goal is to protect his family from a ruthless police force that hounds them, after his daughter has accidentally killed a top cop’s son. The hero’s motive sets him apart from the larger-than-life action star Devgn is normally associated with. The success of Drishyam 2 shows this is the right time for the veteran star to de-glam his brooding on-screen persona.

The film, Devgn’s first big success since his National Award-winning blockbuster of 2020, Tanhaji, proves another thing: In an era when there is a glut of entertainment choices for the audience, multiple releases in a year is perhaps not a bad idea. In sync with the strategy, he continues with multiple releases in 2023, mixing his roles for variety. Maidaan, slated to open in February, is based on the life of the legendary football coach Syed Abdul Rahim, widely regarded as the architect of Indian football. Devgn’s next is the self-directed Bholaa, a crime thriller officially remade from the 2019 Tamil hit Kaithi. The film, scheduled for an April release, casts him as an ex-con who, freed from jail and returning home to his daughter, faces grave peril on the way. Singham 3 and Golmaal 5 are in the pipeline, too.

But what caught the attention of Bollywood watchers was his recent cryptic post that teased his Instafam. “Phool Aur Kaante Returns has a good ring to it. What do y’all think?” Devgn wrote on Instagram. Social media has been abuzz with conjectures if he is keen to reboot his launchpad. If it has a good ring for the businessman in Ajay Devgn, it might just be right to set the cash registers ringing.

Vinayak Chakravorty is a critic, columnist and film journalist based in Delhi-NCR.

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