The first six months of 2015 have been a mixed bag for Bollywood. We take a look at some films that failed to live up to the hype surrounding their release...
The first six months of 2015 have been a mixed bag for Bollywood. While some films unexpectedly proved to be box office hits, many others failed to live up to expectations.
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A still from 'Hamari Adhuri Kahani' and (right) 'Shamitabh', two highly anticipated films that proved to be damp squibs
And it was the latter category of films — several big-ticket projects included — that dealt a blow to the industry business. hitlist points out the much hyped films of this year so far that failed to impress the audience...
'Bombay Velvet'
Lowdown: The Anurag Kashyap film has been the biggest disappointment of the year so far or, perhaps, the biggest debacle in the last decade as trade experts would like to put it. The ambitious project starring Ranbir Kapoor, Anushka Sharma and Karan Johar in lead roles was made at a humongous cost of over R140 crore. In fact, its marketing budget alone was more than R25 crore, but the film's collections at the ticket counters failed to recover even that.
BO collections: Rs 23.67 crore
Verdict: Flop
'Hamari Adhuri Kahani'
Lowdown: Vidya Balan was expected to break her series of flops with this Mohit Suri film, whose trailer had been much talked about. But a more or less clichéd story and characterisation worked against it. It was also a setback for Emraan, who has not delivered a hit at the box-office since 'Raaz 3' (2012).
BO collections: Rs 36.76 crore
Verdict: Average
'Roy'
Lowdown: Much hype was built around the Arjun Rampal-Jacqueline Fernandez movie because of Ranbir Kapoor's presence — the emerging star had not been seen on screen for almost a year, barring his 90-second role in PK last year. A delayed release notwithstanding, the film wooed crowds to the theatres and got the biggest opening in 2015's first quarter at Rs 9.25 crore. Gradually, however, the business plummeted — partly due of the content and partly due to the cricket World Cup.
BO collections: Rs 44.50 crore
Verdict: Average
'Shamitabh'
Lowdown: Amitabh Bachchan and Dhanush coming together in an R Balki film plus debut of Kamal Haasan's younger daughter, Akshara... this film showed a lot of promise. However, things turned out differently when it went to the theatres. It proved to be a box office disaster in spite of Big B's deep baritone that was central to the plot.
BO collections: Rs 22.45 crore
Verdict: Flop
'Tevar'
Lowdown: This was the first big-ticket film of 2015 featuring Arjun Kapoor and Sonakshi Sinha as the lead pair, and there were great expectations from it. Though the film got off to a decent start, the decreasing footfalls with each passing day proved that the audience had rejected the content. The budget of this Amit Trivedi-directed film was somewhere around Rs 40 crore and the producers (Boney and Sanjay Kapoor) had also ensured an elaborate media campaign for it, but in vain.
BO collections: Rs 39 crore
Verdict: Flop
'Mr X'
Lowdown: From the time Emraan Hashmi's look in the film was revealed, the makers had set the public expectation quite high. But much like the actor's invisible character in the Vikram Bhatt project, the impact was hardly perceptible too. After an encouraging opening at the ticket counters, it fizzled out soon enough.
BO collections: Rs 24.79 crore
Verdict: Flop
'Dolly Ki Doli'
Lowdown: The Arbaaz Khan comedy-drama was highly promoted as a film that would see Sonam Kapoor coming out of her comfort zone. What's more, it had the talented Rajkummar Rao as part of the star cast. However, it failed to lure the audience to theatres. It competed with the Akshay Kumar-starrer 'Baby' at the box office, but to disastrous consequences. The only advantage was that it was made on a low budget totalling around Rs 25 crore.
BO collections: Rs 19.26 crore
Verdict: Flop
'I'
Lowdown: The Hindi version of the Tamil romantic thriller could elicit the kind of overwhelming crowd response in the metro cities as it did in the South. Written and directed by Shankar, it starred Tamil star Vikram in the lead along with British import Amy Jackson. The film was also promoted on a large scale, but the Hindi movie buffs did not show preference for it.
BO collections: Rs 11 crore
Verdict: Flop