Akshay Kumar delivers fourth consecutive hit with Jolly LLB 2 within 13 Months

Akshay Kumar’s  recent release, Jolly LLB 2, has success written all over it. The box office registers are ringing, critics are impressed and the actor has added to his strong multiplex fan following. Despite being a regular weekend release, the film was attended very well and has become the actor’s fourth consecutive hit in 13 months. His 2016 releases — Airlift, Housefull 3 and Rustom — had all crossed the `100-crore mark.

Trade analysts believe that with this movie, Akshay has managed to retain his loyal audience in the face of big releases by Shah Rukh Khan and Hrithik Roshan a couple of weeks earlier. “The first movie, Jolly LLB, was a successful beginning for the franchise, and with Akshay Kumar, the game only got bigger. In the first two days, the film made as much as the first one made overall. After establishing himself as a star, Akshay is projecting himself as a successful actor,” says trade analyst Atul Mohan.

Jolly LLB 2’s success is an even bigger achievement, considering Shah Rukh Khan-starrer Raees and Hrithik Roshan’s Kaabil released on the holiday weekend of January 26. “Raees and Kaabil extended their launch week to nine days by releasing the film on January 25. It was expected that the films would do well. But Jolly LLB 2’s feat is remarkable, as the production cost was so low. Akshay’s reputation is very good, and he is picking good subjects. He picks films according to his age and chooses roles that suit him. Other stars are still busy picking typical love stories,” says distributor Jogindar Mahajan.

“Akshay’s choice of roles has changed over the past two to three years. He has been selecting the right stories. He has got back his loyal audience, who had threatened to leave him around three years ago,” says trade analyst Komal Nahta.