Milkha, Raanjhanaa, Fukrey: Biggest surprises of 2013 so far

Though 2013 has seen quite a few films failing at the box office so far, there have also been films that took everybody by surprise by performing well at the box office even when the odds were stacked against them.

While some anticipated hits like Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani, Race 2, Special 26 and Shootout at Wadala met expectations, several underdogs did exceedingly well too.

Here's a look at the biggest surprises of the year so far!

Bhaag Milkha Bhaag

Cast: Farhan Akhtar, Sonam Kapoor, Prakash Raj, Pawan Malhotra
Director: Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra
Box office collections (approximately): Rs 100 crore-plus

The film didn't really create any buzz when it was announced. However, its teaser did the trick when it was released more than six months ago.

Catching up steadily at the box office, Bhaag Milkha Bhaag has proved the prediction that a Rakeysh Mehra-Farhan Akhtar film would open well.

Uniformly good reviews, positive word-of-mouth and lack of major competition ensured that the biopic continued to run for an eventual 100-crore dash, a figure that no one expected from it to begin with.

Read the review here.

Cast: Aditya Roy Kapur, Shraddha Kapoor, Shaad Randhawa
Director: Mohit Suri
Box office collections (approximately): Rs 80 crore

Nobody saw this one coming.

All everybody expected from this romance drama starring two relative newcomers was that it would just about break even.

However, this Mohit Suri film went on to attain blockbuster success.

Read the review here.

Cast: Sonam Kapoor, Dhanush, Abhay Deol
Director: Aanand L Rai
Box office collections (approximately): Rs 60 crore-plus

Despite director Aanand L Rai's last hit Tanu Weds Manu, not many people were willing to give his new film a chance, mostly because of the unusual lead pair.

Tamil star Dhanush was a debutante in Bollywood while Sonam had some high profile flops behind her.

But Rai swung things in his favour. Excellent promotion strategy and marketing (by Eros) helped a great deal too.

The film made twice the amount of money it was expected to rake in.

Read the review here.

Cast: Sushant Singh Rajput, Amit Sadh, Raj Kumar Yadav, Amrita Puri
Director: Abhishek kapoor
Box office collections (approximately): Rs 50 crore

This film had enough detractors to write it off even before it hit theatres.

A bunch of new actors and unconventional music made people apprehensive about Kai Po Che! 

However, director Abhishek Kapoor proved everyone wrong by hitting a half century at the box office.

Read the review here.

Cast: Prabhu Deva, Ganesh Acharya, Kay Kay Menon, Lauren Gottlieb, Dharmesh Yelande, Salman Yusuff Khan
Director: Remo D'souza
Box office collections (approximately): Rs 45 crore plus

There was no buzz about the film while it was under production -- the makers probably wondered people would be interested in watching a dance-based film. 

A cast largely comprising of newcomer dancers/actors, ABCD was marketed intelligently by UTV.

The film's music and 3D helped it close its run just under the 50-crore mark.

Read the review here.

Cast: Ali Zafar, Siddharth, Taapsee Pannu, Divyendu Sharma
Director: David Dhawan
Box office collections (approximately): Rs 40 crore plus

Stuck in the cans for close to a year, it was long considered to be an 'over and out' affair by many within the industry.

Thankfully, not many viewers were even aware that this remake was actually ready.

A rethinking in strategy did the trick and by the time of its release, this film generated a fair amount of buzz. Vintage David Dhawan humour was pretty much on display and newcomer Taapsee Pannu threw enough spark to make this film a clean Hit.

Read the review here.

Cast: Arshad Warsi, Boman Irani, Amrita Rao, Saurabh Shukla
Director: Subhash Kapoor
Box office collections (approximately): Rs 35 crore-plus

This was a film that was once supposed to be made with Shah Rukh Khan. However, director Subhash Kapoor had to make do with Arshad Warsi whe SRK moved on to other projects.

The film was nowhere close to being noticed until the moment its First Look was released.

The promotions intensified and audiences too showed interest ahead of its release. Arshad Warsi managed his first solo hit after being in the industry for a decade and a half.

Read the review here.

Cast: Pulkit Samrat, Ali Fazal, Manjot Singh, Priya Anand, Richa Chadda, Vishakha Singh
Director: Mrighdeep Singh Lamba
Box office collections (approximately): Rs 35 crore-plus

This is a kind of success story that dreams are made of.

One can bet that till date, not many among the audience would even recollect the real names of all four male protagonists in Fukrey.

However, none of that really matters if one looks at the real surprise that this ensemble affair threw our way.

Coming from director Mrighdeep Singh Lamba, whose last directorial project was a disaster called 3 They Bhai, this was a major comeback.

Read the review here.

Cast: Girsih Kumar Shruti Haasan
Director: Prabhudeva
Box office collections (approximately): Rs 35 crore-plus

Not many debutantes get a promising start in Bollywood.

Ranbir Kapoor faced failure with his maiden acting attempt with Sanjay Leela Bhansali's Saawariya (collected a measely Rs 20 crore) while Imran Khan made a better start with Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Naa (Rs 55 crore-plus).

Kumar Taurani's son Girish Kumar managed somewhere in between with Ramaiya Vastavaiya. The  film pulled in a good number of audience members.

Read the review here.

Cast: Paresh Rawal, Rajeev Khandelwal, Tena Desae, Dhruv Ganesh
Director: Aditya Datt
Box office collections (approximately): Rs 12 crore

The film's first look arrived unannounced and quickly receded into oblivion. Moreover, its director Aditya Datt and lead actor Rajeev Khandelwal had delivered a dud titled Will You Marry Me? just a few months ago.

But everything changed as the marketing took over the proceedings.

With an exciting plot to boast of, the film gathered strength over it's opening weekend and eventually managed to cross the Rs 10 crore mark; a respectable figure.

Currently, it is a major success on the home video and satellite circuits with all around positive word-of-mouth doing the trick.

Read the review here.