Patcy N in Mumbai
Earlier, we took a look at Bollywood's biggest hits of the year.
Today, trade analyst Vinod Mirani takes us through films that were expected to score well at the Indian box office, but did not. Take a look:
Guzaarish
Cast: Hrithik Roshan, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan
Directed by: Sanjay Leela Bhansali
Hrithik had two releases this year -- Kites and Guzaarish -- and both of them bombed. Guzaarish, however, received good reviews, especially Hrithik's performance.
Rediff reviewer Raja Sen thought Hrithik was wow, but Bhansali was not.
Read the review of Guzaarish.
Kites
Image: The Kites trailerCast: Hrithik Roshan, Babara Mori, Kangna Ranaut
Directed by: Anurag Basu
Kites was expected to be a huge blockbuster. Unfortunately, it bombed.
Directed by Anurag Basu (who has made hits like Murder, Gangster and Life... In A Metro), Kites had beautiful locales and a stunning-looking lead cast in Hrithik and Barbara Mori. But most of the film was in Spanish and English, leaving the Hindi-speaking audience feeling cheated.
Read the review of Kites.
Khelein Hum Jee Jaan Sey
Image: The Khelein Hum Jee Jaan Sey trailerCast: Abhishek Bachchan, Deepika Padukone
Directed by: Ashutosh Gowariker
Ashutosh Gowariker gave two duds in a row with What's Your Raashee last year, and Khelein Hum Jee Jaan Sey this year. Even though the director got good kudos for bringing the forgotten Chittagong uprising to the big screen, the film was clumsily structured.
Abhishek, as freedom fighter Surjya Sen, was unimpressive.
Read the review of Khelein Hum Jee Jaan Sey
Raavan
Image: The Raavan trailerCast: Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Abhishek Bachchan, Vikram, Govinda
Directed by: Mani Ratnam
No one expected Raavan to flop, as Mani Ratnam's films usually do well at the box office.
The film was visually stunning and saw some great performances, but failed largely because of its weak screenplay.
Read the reviews of Raavan: Saisuresh Sivaswamy Raja Sen Aseem Chhabra
Action Replayy
Image: The Action Replayy trailerCast: Akshay Kumar, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Aditya Roy Kapoor, Neha Dhupia, Ranvijay Singh, Randhir Kapoor
Directed by: Vipul Amrutlal Shah
Never underestimate your audience and Action Replayy did just that. Nothing was right with it; it got bad reviews throughout. It was the tackiest film of the year. All the actors performed badly and the plot was hopeless.
Read the review of Action Replayy
No Problem
Image: The No Problem trailerCast: Anil Kapoor, Akshaye Khanna, Kangna Ranaut, Neetu Chandra, Sushmita Sen, Paresh Rawal, Sanjay Dutt, Suniel Shetty
Directed by: Anees Bazmee
If a director apologises for the film after its release, it means there is something seriously wrong with it.
No Problem opened very badly and the collections kept falling. The 34 crore film did not even recover the money that they had put in making it.
Read the review of No Problem
Veer
Image: The Veer trailerCast: Salman Khan, Mithun Chakraborty, Sohail Khan, Jackie Shroff, Zarine Khan
Directed by: Anil Sharma
Veer got bad reviews from all the quarters. Salman Khan wrote this story when he was in his 20's and, therefore, the film looked dated.
Besides Salman, everyone else performed badly. Anil Sharma's loud direction, bad story and a big budget killed Veer.
Read the review of Veer
My Name Is Khan
Image: The My Name Is Khan trailerCast: Shah Rukh Khan, Kajol, Jimmy Shergill, Zarina Wahab
Directed by: Karan Johar
My Name Is Khan received positive reviews, and opened well. But after the first week, collections fell because of protests in Maharashtra and Gujarat against Shah Rukh Khan. The film failed to do well in India.
Read the review of My Name Is Khan: Raja Sen Savera R Someshwar Sukanya Verma
Aakrosh
Image: The Aakrosh trailerCast: Ajay Devgn, Akshaye Khanna, Bipasha Basu, Reema Khan
Directed by: Priyadarshan.
Aakrosh dealt with a serious issue like honour killings in India. It had an 'A' certificate due to the violence, limiting its audience.
It probably didn't help that the film was a blatant copy of Mississippi Burning.
Read the review of Aakrosh
Khatta Meetha
Image: The Khatta Meetha trailerCast: Akshay Kumar, Trisha
Directed by: Priyadarshan
A remake of Priyadarshan's Malayalam film Vellanakalude Nadu, Khatta Meetha mostly received negative reviews. Even though Akshay's performance was appreciated, Trisha was unimpressive.
Considering the original was made in the 1980s, the story was not upgraded to today's generation.
Read the review of Khatta Meetha
We Are Family
Image: The We Are Family trailerCast: Kajol, Kareena Kapoor, Arjun Rampal
Directed by: Siddharth Malhotra
An official remake of Stepmom, We Are Family did not have the emotions and sensitivity of the original Julia Roberts-Susan Sarandon-Ed Harris starrer.
Critics mostly panned the film, and audience kept out of the theatres.
Read the review of We Are Family.
Anjaana Anjaani
Image: The Anjaana Anjaani trailerCast: Ranbir Kapoor, Priyanka Chopra
Directed by: Siddharth Anand
Made with a budget of 43 crore, the film received negative reviews unanimously. Director Siddharth Anand, who gave us mixed fare like Salaam Namaste, Ta Ra Rum Pum and Bachna Ae Haseeno earlier, wasn't so lucky this time.
Read the review of Anjaana Anjaani.
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