Biggest Disasters
The year 2009 was not one of the best years of Bollywood, but probably one of the worst in terms of box office earnings. This year saw many big films flop at the box office. We have put together the most disastrous happenings of 2009.
Strike of Multiplexes
The two month old spat between the Bollywood producers and multiplex owners over revenue sharing was one of the biggest disappointments of 2009 for film lovers. The two parties had been at loggerheads for over four months after the producers had demanded for 50:50 revenue sharing from the multiplex owners. The deal was rejected by the multiplex owners and the producers in turn did not screen any new movies in the multiplexes from April 4th. Only single screens were releasing small budget movies, denying the cine goers entertainment during their summer vacations. After the deal was reached, multiplexes began to start screening movies from July 12th and onwards. The final settlement that had been reached between the two parties was 50, 42, 35 and 30 percent for the first, second, third and fourth week respectively for all movies and 52, 45, 38 and 30 percent respectively for all blockbuster movies that manage to collect more than Rs. 17.5 crores. The end of the strike was a relief to everyone from the film industry. 2009 was already a disastrous year and the strike made it no better. The only good thing coming out of the strike was that it brought together Shah Rukh Khan and Aamir Khan on a common platform which was a treat for everyone.
Chandni Chowk To China
The year 2009 didn’t begin on a very good note with Chandni Chowk to China. Expectations were sky high, after Singh is Kinng, and Akshay Kumar was touted as being the comedy king of Bollywood. After the success of Singh is Kinng, even Warner Bros. were full of hope and dreams that they had struck gold. But then this dream crashed. Expectations weren’t met at all. The comedy magic failed because of lack of story, lack of comedy and lack of direction. What was Nikhil Advani thinking? Or what was Akshay Kumar thinking when the story was narrated to him? Doesn’t he listen to the story? In Komal Nahta’s TV-show people could fire away with their questions about the film, but Akshay Kumar and Nikhil Advani both stayed famously silent. They just said people should go and see the film. After Kal Ho Naa Ho, Advani still couldn’t quite make it into the big league of directors, though he was touted to be one of the next big ones.
Kurbaan
After New York, Kurbaan was the next commercial film which carried terrorism as a theme. While New York was about the change of the world around a person and how that can influence your life, Kurbaan was more about how actions lead to reactions. The film was penned by Karan Johar, who wanted to make the film a few years ago with Shah Rukh Khan and Tabu, but things didn’t work out. He narrated the story to Rensil D’Silva, who worked on the script to give it his own feel. The music of Kurbaan became an instant hit, especially ‘Shukran Allah’, but the movie didn’t make it. People were not taking things lightly with Kurbaan showing both sides of the coin, but not offering anything new. There were hard messages, like the scene of Vivek Oberoi in the classroom, but it didn’t attract people enough to see the film. Performances of Saif Ali Khan, Kareena Kapoor and Vivek Oberoi were great, but that couldn’t help the film either. The audience might be tired of seeing the same angle in a different concept.
Kambakht Ishq
Kambakkht Ishq brought together Akshay Kumar, Denise Richards, Sylvester Stallone and Kareena Kapoor. And that is where the glamour ends. The film was low on content (Akshay usually likes scripts with no content so no surprise there) and very high on nothing. The locations were great, but didn’t work. The only thing working were the stunts. Jokes fell flat and were a disgrace for women. Why Kareena Kapoor participated in this madness is still an unsolved mystery. Akshay seems to be attracted to scripts in which he can insult women to the core, calling a woman’s womb a tandoor in another film was just the beginning I guess. It was expected to be another great film after Singh is Kinng, but it turned out an average product. Bad script, bad direction and above all very tasteless acting.
Billu Barber
A Priyadarshan film under the banner of Shah Rukh Khan – if that isn’t raising expectations, then what is? From the start both producer and director have been saying that the story is about a small town barber meeting his childhood friend, who has turned into a big superstar. The media made an Irrfan film seem like another Shah Rukh Khan film and expectations rose. The promos were featuring Shah Rukh Khan with all his leading ladies, however even Shah Rukh himself claimed the film was not about him. Well, with SRK in your film, you are bound to have this kind of attention. After that, the name of the film caused some trouble. An association had sued Red Chillies for using the word Barber (perfectly fine word in the English language) as it was derogatory to the profession. Red Chillies was forced to do without Barber, so the movie became Billu. The story turned out rather serious and was not appealing to your regular audience. Set in a small village, showing normal people with everyday life problems is not really the picture that will have the cash registers ringing. Though the story was sweet and based on a story of Krishna and his friendship with Sudama, it didn’t work like many expected.
Tasveer 8×10
2009 was really not Akshay Kumar’s year. The man who made films like Iqbal and Dor was now teaming up with Akshay Kumar who was enjoying success after Singh is Kinng. Unfortunately, the flop CC2C wasn’t exactly the promotion that they had expected. Tasveer 8 x 10 was very low on the marketing front, but also very low in content. The film had absolutely nothing to offer. It was suppose to be a thriller, but it turned out to be a big joke. People could not believe that a fine filmmaker like Kukunoor made this kind of crap. Instead of portraying a serious character, Akshay was dragging his comedy attitude with him throughout this whole film. He was yelling, screaming and popping eyeballs as usual. It was a film that came and went unnoticed.
Other big disasters included:
Aladin
The film had great VFX. It was a nice to use the story of Aladin as a backdrop, but the storyline was to thin to work around. Riteish did a good job as Aladin and Amitabh Bachchan was nice as Genie.
What’s Your Rashee?
Priyanka Chopra played as many as 12 characters in this film about choosing the right girl by Rashee. Even though Priyanka did a great job, the film was boring. The story wasn’t made interesting and you didn’t feel for any of the characters. After Jodha Akbar people had expected something more from Ashutosh than this.
Rocket Singh – Salesman of the Year
The film got rave reviews. Critics were praising the salesman of the year, Rocket Singh. Ranbir Kapoor surprised us for the third time this year with his portrayal of Rocket Singh. The film was more of a documentary on the life of a salesman, rather than a film. Maybe that is what kept the audience away?
Do Knot Disturb
The combination of two excellent comedians should have worked, but only if the script was better. The story didn’t work and all pressure was on Riteish and Govinda to make it work. The film had too much screaming, old jokes and clich
