Patcy N in Mumbai
In the first part of the two-part series, we had a look at the half-yearly hits of Bollywood. There were some expected blockbusters, and some pleasant surprises.
Here, we take a look at the flops of the year so far.
Media professional and industry observer Abhijit Mhamunkar gives Patcy N the top 10 flops in the last six months, listed according to their release dates.
Players
Cast: Abhishek Bachchan, Bobby Deol, Sonam Kapoor, Neil Nitin Mukesh, Bipasha Basu
Director: Abbas-Mustan
Release date: January 6
Old-timers Abbas-Mastan don't seem to understand the contemporary market, and their standard format of films don't seem to be working at the box office.
Besides, the big players of the film -- Abhishek Bachchan, Sonam Kapoor, Bobby Deol and Neil Nitin Mukesh -- don't have a substantial fan following.
The original film The Italian Job has been shown on television so many times that audiences couldn't be bothered to go watch the desi version.
Galli Galli Chor Hai
Cast: Akshaye Khanna, Shriya Saran, Mugdha Godse
Director: Rumi Jafery
Release date: February 3
Galli Galli Chor Hai tried to capatalise on Anna Hazare's popular anti-corruption movement, and even got the social activist to watch the film and praise it.
Unfortunately, the film did not offer any solutions to the common man's problems, and was quite abrupt and unrealistic.
Ekk Deewana Tha
Cast: Prateik, Amy Jackson, Manu Rishi
Director: Gautham Menon
Release date: February 17:
Prateik has still to prove himself as a solo hero, and Ekk Deewana Tha did not help him in that direction. British actress Amy Jackson couldn't pull off her Indian role.
Besides, the film was way too boring.
Jodi Breakers
Cast: R Madhavan, Bipasha Basu, Omi Vaidya, Dipannita Sharma
Director: Ashwini Chaudhary
Release date: February 24
The budget of the film killed it. It was too big for a film with hardly any star value. Bipasha was having a bad run at the box office at the time, and even though Madhavan's earlier film Tanu Weds Manu was a hit, that film did not have a very big budget.
Madhavan does not enjoy the fan following in the rest of India as he does down south, and cannot pull off a solo hero Hindi film.
Agent Vinod
Cast: Saif Ali Khan, Kareena Kapoor
Director: Sriram Raghvan
Release date: March 23
People expected a spy film but what they got instead was a confused film.
Agent Vinod was very contrived, and just couldn't make up its mind whether it was a spy film, a comedy or a romantic film.
Besides, the retro tribute to the 1960's and 1970's don't work too well unless it's made well like in Om Shanti Om and Once Upon A Time in Mumbaai.
Tezz
Cast: Ajay Devgn, Anil Kapoor, Kangna Ranaut, Mohanlal, Sameera Reddy, Zayed Khan
Director: Priyadarshan
Release date: April 27
The film did not live up to its promise, as it promised a train adventure but instead, most of the action was shot on the ground.
Like Mohanlal's special appearance in the film, the train also seemed to have a special appearance.
Even though Mohanlal is a huge star down south his fans were disappointed to see him in such a small non important role.
The promotions were not enough, and the filmmakers could not capatalise Ajay Devgn -- fresh from the success of Singham -- and Anil Kapoor, who had been in the news for his Mission Impossible cameo.
London Paris New York
Cast: Ali Zafar, Aditi Rao Hydari
Director: Anu Menon
Release date: May 2
London Paris New York promised a fresh romantic film but instead, offered a deja vu feeling of Hollywood films, Before Sunrise (1995) and its sequel Before Sunset (2005).
The fresh pairing of Ali Zafar and Aditi did not work as they were non-salable stars.
Besides, for a love story to work, the music needs to be a hit, which was not the case here.
Dangerous Ishhq
Cast: Karsima Kapoor, Rajneesh Duggal, Jimmy Shergil
Director: Vikram Bhatt
Release date: May 11
Audiences simply didn't find Karisma Kapoor's comeback into the movies exciting enough to go watch the film.
For someone of her stature to make a comeback, Karisma definitely deserved a better script, a bigger hero and better execution.
Department
Cast: Amitabh Bachchan, Sanjay Dutt, Rana Daggubati, Vijay Raaz, Abhimanyu Singh, Deepak Tijori, Lakshmi Manchu, Anjana Sukhani, Madhu Shalini
Director: Ram Gopal Varma
Release date: May 18
People have lost faith in Ram Gopal Varma and his movies and so the curiosity for his movies has died.
In Department's case, the promos were unappealing, and the crazy camera angles further killed all hope for the film.
Besides, gang wars have been done to death in Bollywood, and the new film did not show anything different.
Teri Meri Kahaani
Cast: Shahid Kapoor, Priyanka Chopra
Director: Kunal Kohli
Release date: June 22
The three stories that Teri Meri Kahaani told were not very interesting.
The story was too simplistic, something not expected from a director like Kunal Kohli, who has made better films like Hum Tum and Fanna before.
Even before the film released, it did not carry a positive buzz.
The rumoured off-screen romance of Shahid and Priyanka did not interest audiences enough to go watch them on the big screen.
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