On Monday social media resounded with the trend Emperor Of The Decade for Salman Khan - a trend not just by his fans, but other fan clubs too (Hrithik Roshan, Ajay Devgn, Aamir Khan and more) also. Salman Khan is the only actor who had two blockbuster movies in reputed director Milap Zaveri's list of Top 10 Movies In The Last Decade. When Salman stands on the balcony of his Bandra apartment to greet his fans on birthday or Eid, the humongous crowd that gathers there, literally makes traffic come to a stop. What sets Salman Khan apart from the others that he towers head and shoulders above others where his popularity and stardom are concerned? And yet a certain section of critics takes great glee in pulling down his box-office status.

Let's decode the mega stardom of Salman Khan - something perhaps only comparable to one that of Rajinikanth. Rajinikanth has pulled off his stardom with his charisma for over four decades now and still going strong. Salman's thirty-years career has seen its ups and downs but every movie of his draws in audiences and gets great openings on the strength of his stardom. Love or hate his style of movies, people still throng movie theatres to go and watch them. Salman like Rajinikanth can do anything - from comedy and emotions to dance and fight. Known for their entertaining, formula movies, a lone crusader taking on injustice single-handedly, the traditional good vs evil fight, their consistency at the box-office and larger-than-life persona on and off screen are undeniable and talked about. Personally too, Rajinikanth is known to do much charity while Salman has his own non-profit organisation Being Human. Both are known as men with a Golden Heart.

Salman Khan's is judged on the basis of how much each of his movies earns. While for Salman Khan fans and the masses, the star remains a benchmark for mega hit entertainers, his movies are criticised and box-office numbers analysed most harshly, (even unfairly). One here must point out and question the duplicity of certain trade people and other critics as to what makes them set Salman's benchmark so unfairly?

While Salman's good films including Sultan and Bajrangi Bhaijaan will gross over ₹300-400 crore, his so-called 'average movie' still manages to gross over ₹150-200 crore. and his latest outing Bharat that made 325 crores (World Wide) at the box office. While Bharat (released on Eid) it earned ₹42.30 crore on its first day, becoming Salman's biggest opening day release and emerged as a commercial success with a worldwide gross of ₹325.58 crore. Yet, some still call it 'average' or 'flop'?