AK is not his only hit... there were solo hits/average grossers like John Jani Janardhan (moondru mugam), apart from many multi-starrers including Hum that did extremely well. Phool Bane Angaray was a superhit and Tyagi (Dharmadurai) was a hit in the Hindi heartland.
the humble-pie bit on Geraftaar is off the mark because it was planned as a KH film and AB and RK were roped in to play cameos later. in the process, the AB role was extended for obvious reasons and by the time it released it became an AB film with two southern superstars playing along. it's still an extended guest appearance for AB though he brought in the initial (he did that for Andhaa Kanoon too). and he is still the best part of what's essentially a campy potboiler.