Vinod Khanna was terribly depressed with the MATERIALISTIC WORLD and joined the Osho Ashram in 1981 and quit the world of Cinema in 1982
He signed no commitments after 1981
6 of his films signed post 1980 were SHELVED and Khanna sold his Bungalow named Gulmohar to pay the producers for their losses (The Buyer was Jeetendra who sold the Bungalow in 2009 to build Gulmohar Vista Apartments at a massive profit)
One film was 10 years old and released in 1983 with VINOD MEHRA shooting 8 scenes with his profile instead of Vinod Khanna
It was a TOTAL TURKEY DISASTER
So who found Khannas absence attractive and rose up the ranks
Mithun Chakraborty
Mithun became a MAJOR STAR in Khannas absence
Known as ‘Gourango Dada’ in West Bengal , he swept massively with Disco Dancer, Dance Dance, Boxer and a bunch of films , many of them ridiculous but ending up massively profitable 😁
Disco Dancer was purchased for very low sums but made 600% returns back then
From 1982 to 1993 - Mithun was one Actor who many believed could have eclipsed Bachchan as the KING had Bollywood audiences NOT lost their appetite for Actions in favor of Romance
Instead he ended up doing GUNDA 😁😁😁
Jackie Shroff
When Kamal Hassan opted out of Subhash Ghais film , Ghai on an impulse and based on a single conversation with Dev Anand cast JACKIE SHROFF
Shroff by 1987 became a major name in the Industry
Anil Kapoor
Kapoor who struggled for any breaks and ended up working in a Kannada Film, entered the Industry with films like Meri Jung, Jaanbaaz, Karma, Saheb and Mr India
Sunny Deol
Deol was launched in 1983 with Betaab and began churning out several successful films in the 1980s
Sanjay Dutt
Sanju Baba rose to be a major actor in this period after his success with Rocky and Vidhaata
Others OF course include - Aditya Pancholi, Vijay Arora, Kumar Gaurav and a bunch of other newcomers who couldn't Soldier on
So when Khanna left - The Industry was all about
- Bachchan - the King
- Vinod Khanna - the contender
- Rajesh Khanna & Dharmendra - The FORMER LEGENDS now struggling
- Sanjeev Kumar - The ACTOR
- Rishi Kapoor - THE ROM COM & Romantic
- Feroz Khan - THE ONCE IN A BLUE MOON Star
- Dev Anand - FROM LEGEND TO JOKER
When Khanna returned - The Industry was all about
- Bachchan - The King
- Mithun - The Contender
- Dharmendra - The Has been
- Sunny, Anil, Jackie, Sanju - The Rat Pack of Bollywood
- Rishi Kapoor - The DRAMA & multistarrer King
- Kumar Gaurav - The Romantic
To his credit Vinod Khanna had a great comeback and spent another 4 years as a Lead Actor until 1992 when with Kshatriya he finally entered the realm of a Supporting Actor