Indian actor Akshay Kumar topped the December 2022 list of the 10 most popular male stars in Hindi cinema, which was released today by media insight company Ormax. Bollywood star Shah Rukh Khan occupied the second position while Salman Khan was ranked third on the list. According to sources, the list is compiled by Ormax based on consumer research and data analytics.
On the work front, Akshay had a relatively low year in 2022. He had five releases last year, namely, Bachchan Pandey, Samrat Prithviraj, Raksha Bandhan, Cuttputlli and Ram Setu, with Ram Setu and Raksha Bandhan attaining marginal success. He also appeared in a cameo in the 2022 Ayushmann Khurrana starrer, An Action Hero. This year, the actor will appear in several big releases including Selfiee, OMG2, and Bade Miyan Chhote Miyan.
Shah Rukh Khan was last seen in the 2018 Anand L Rai film Zero. He will make a comeback this year with the action thriller film, Pathaan. The film directed by Siddharth Anand also stars Deepika Padukone and John Abraham. The movie is the first of Shah Rukh's three upcoming films after a hiatus of over four years. Pathaan is produced by Yash Raj Films and will be released in theatres on January 25, 2023.
Salman was last seen in the 2021 film Antim. He made an extended cameo appearance in the 2022 Telugu-language action thriller film, Godfather, with Chiranjeevi in the lead role. He also made a special appearance in the 2022 Ritesh Deshmukh starrer Marathi-language film, Ved.
Reports state that the Ormax list also considers the actors' overall brand value, including their films and brand endorsements for the list. The list also featured actors, Hrithik Roshan, Ranbir Kapoor, Ajay Devgn and Ranveer Singh at the fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh positions respectively. Varun Dhawan and Aamir Khan occupied the eighth and ninth positions, while Karthik Aryan was ranked tenth on the list.