The year gone by was a disaster for films and actors with hardly any actors finding appreciation but the one that did was Ajay Devgn for Tanhaji The Unsung Warrior and it turned out to be a one horse race for best actor. The applause that Ajay Devgn got in cinemas of Maharashtra has not been seen in a long time. It could be due to the local flavour of the film but you still have to perform well to get the response.
It was a one horse race in 2020 because of the pandemic but even if the year was normal then still Ajay Devgn would have had a good chance of coming out on top. There may have been some films which challenged the numbers but it would have been tough. The only other actors to get some eyeballs this were Tiger Shroff, Akshay Kumar and Varun Dhawan be it in theatres, OTT or television but it was mid level appreciation and probably mainly from fans. Sushant Rajput also got eyeballs with Dil Bechara which released post his death on Hotstar but the situation was totally different a few months later on television when the film got dreadfull ratings.
Ajay Devgn gave the biggest HIT of the year with Tanhaji - The Unsung Warrior and the last time this happened was in 1991 with his first release Phool Aur Kaante which was the biggest HIT of 1991. The difference being that Tanhaji - The Unsung Warrior was the biggest HIT and the biggest GROSSER while of 2020 Phool Aur Kaante was the biggest HIT but the second biggest grosser in 1991. Phool Aur Kaante was second to the Subhash Ghai magnum opus Saudagar but Phool Aur Kaante had far lower costs than Saudagar making it a bigger HIT.
The situation was similar to 2019 when Kabir Singh was the biggest HIT while War was the biggest grosser. Tanhaji - The Unsung Warrior recorded the highest footfalls ever for an Ajay Devgn film and was his third film to cross 2 crore footfalls after Phool Aur Kaante and Ishq. The film also had the second highest footfalls in the the last two years after Kabir Singh. The biggest BLOCKBUSTER of your career and huge applause for a performance from the audience which stands out made it Ajay Devgns year.
Coincidently Tanhaji - The Unsung Warrior and Phool Aur Kaante both clashed with female orientated films which starred the top actresses of the respective times. Phool Aur Kaante clashed with Lamhe featuring Sridevi and Tanhaji - The Unsung Warrior clashed with Chhapaak featuring. Deepika Padukone. Both Lamhe and Chhapaak were huge FLOPS and totally rejected by the public.
