With Total Dhamaal, Ajay Devgn is set to maintain his 4-year zero flop streak

Joginder Tuteja

Four years, five films and zero flops -- That how Ajay Devgn’s track record looks like over the last few years.

The superstar has been consistency personified at the box office and that is something that has kept him going for almost three decades now. Ever since he made his debut with Phool Aur Kaante (1991) 28 years back, he has done close to 100 films and the winning streak is on.

Now that Devgn is starting his 2019 campaign with Total Dhamaal, one is confident that he would continue his unbeaten run with the Indra Kumar directed comedy affair.

Devgn's last flop was in 2014 when Action Jackson failed at the box office. The actor was seen in a double role but the film directed by Prabhu Deva could not do well even with the masses. However, in the same year, he had delivered a super hit with Singham Returns, which ensured that his track record of delivering at least one success every year was uninterrupted.

He has not looked back ever since, with Drishyam (2015), Shivaay (2016), Golmaal Again (2017) and Raid (2018) turning out to be successes year after year and Baadshaho (2017) managing to scrape through as well.

In fact, Drishyam remains one of his most appreciated films till date with very good recall value. The film had started slow at the box office, but grew well over a period of time to emerge as a success.

Shivaay was Devgn's dream project. He had invested two years in not just acting and producing it, but also directing it. The Diwali release clashed with Ae Dil Hai Mushkil and though its budget warranted that it cover a much larger distance, it still managed to enter the Rs 100 crore club.

Raid was made on a restricted budget though and that allowed the Rs 100 crore club success of the film to get a ‘hit’ status for itself. As a no-nonsense officer, Devgn impressed the audience and reiterated that he is one of the best in the business when it comes to getting into a serious avatar.

He did step into the 'masala' zone though for Baadshaho and though the film had its moments, its abrupt climax did not help the cause. The film stopped short of emerging as a clean success but eventually managed to cover its costs with ancillary rights (satellite, digital and music) coming to its rescue.

The biggest of them all though was Golmaal Again in which he reunited with Rohit Shetty and ended up delivering a Rs 200 crore success.

With each of these five films ultimately finding an audience during last four years, Devgn has been enjoying a consistent outing yet again. No wonder, distributors, exhibitors and of course audiences are waiting to see what he has to offer next with Total Dhamaal.

The film is yet another comic outing for Devgn after Golmaal Again and just like the latter, this one is a multi-starrer as well. While the usual suspects of the Indra Kumar franchise, Riteish Deshmukh, Arshad Warsi (also Devgn's ‘partner-in-crime’ in the Golmaal series) and Jaaved Jaffrey are all there. Hit pairing of Anil Kapoor and Madhuri Dixit from the 1990s, adds on to the fun.

The entertaining promo pretty much indicates that even in this multi-starrer set up, Devgn is the key protagonist and would be driving the show. Hence, the film's expected success would add on to the repertoire that the actor has built over the years.

With De De Pyaar De and Taanaji - The Unsung Warrior as his next two outings, Total Dhamaal could result in a winning start to the year for him.

Lifetime collections of last five Devgn starrers:

Drishyam – Rs 77 crore