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One seldom mentions terrific actor and Arjun Rampal in the same breath. To think he's won a National Award trophy not too long ago.
But save for exceptions like Aankhen, Rock On, Om Shanti Om, Ra.One or Raajneeti, the supermodel-turned-actor has failed to dazzle with his talent or selection of roles.
In his last Friday's release, Prakash Jha's Chakravyuh, which revolves around the Naxalite movement in Eastern India, the 39-year-old plays a dedicated IPS officer trying every trick to arrest its leaders. Though the film opened to mixed reactions, it received an abysmal opening at the box office. His turn in the week's other release Ajab Ghazab Love did no favours for him either, even though he had a double role.
Here's looking at the actor's 10 worst films.
Pyaar Ishq Aur Mohabbat
After directing hard core action in hits like Tridev, Mohra and Gupt, Rajiv Rai shifted to mushy territory in his romance about three men competing for the same girl's affections.
But neither debutant Rampal's chiseled good looks, lousy display of acting from the entire cast or its daft storyline made any effort to salvage Pyaar Ishq Aur Mohabbat.
Read the review here
In the beaten-to-death boy-meets-girl but parents disapprove brand of scenario, the otherwise agreeable pair of Rampal and Dia Mirza contribute to mind-numbing boredom with their indifferent performances and a script that makes little sense.
Deewanpan came, saw and vanished.
Read the review here
So one fine day, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan's mom, Vrinda was hit with the brainwave of a story about a woman who loses her husband and memory in a car accident and falls in love with another man raising her kid as his own.
And while Rampal and Ash looked pretty as a catalogue, Dil Ka Rishta spelled the A to Z of phony. No wonder the audience preferred to watch a sizzling John Abraham and Bipasha Basu in Jism, which released on the same day, instead.
Read the review here
While others had little doubt about Rajiv Rai and Arjun Rampal's non-existent chemistry, the duo decided to test their fortunes again at the expense of the perennially forgiving audience with the action-packed Asambhav.
Despite the presence of glam girl Priyanka Chopra and the ever reliable Naseeruddin Shah, Rai's version of Mission Impossible was just too dim-witted to find takers.
Read the review here
Some films are designed for style. Others for substance.
The latter has no business in Vikram Bhatt's so bad, it's not even funny Elaan, a laughable action thriller which serves the sole purpose of dressing up its hunky line-up of models like Rampal, John Abraham and Lara Dutta in hip clothing.
Read the review here
Not much intrigue can be expected from a suspense front lined by a feeble cast of Rampal, Amisha Patel and Zayed Khan.
And Vashu Bhagnani's Vaada, where the Rock On hero plays a blind businessman, reduces the genre to a bore-fest with its non-stop twists at every turn.
Read the review here
Dialogue writer Girish Dhamiji turns director with Vikram Bhatt's chaotic script in Yakeen. Rampal and Priyanka Chopra team up to play a married couple on the verge of divorce and involved in a car accident leading to the Bollywood staple-amnesia.
Only here, despite some decent potential, it leads to a twist so silly and implausible that no one quite shows any faith in this non-starter called Yakeen.
Read the review here
It's funny how every time Arjun Rampal and Ameesha Patel are in one movie, someone plays it blind. This time it's the Gadar beauty's turn to be robbed off her eyesight.
The predictable romance and jarringly filmi treatment to Humko Tumse Pyaar Hai (co-starring Bobby Deol), combined with some really terrible performances is quite effortlessly forgettable.
Read the review here
Perhaps the idea behind EMI, which deals with the installment and loan culture of urban India, was to enlighten us with the danger in desperation.
Instead this Sanjay Dutt vehicle featuring Rampal, Urmila Matondkar and Malaika Arora Khan dishes out a dreary few hours of storytelling that convey neither sense nor facts.
Read the review here
Rampal, along with wife Mehr Jesia, turned producer with the rom-com, I See You.
With a plotline suspiciously similar to Malayalam hit Vismayathumbathu and Hollywood's Just Like Heaven and star cameos from Shah Rukh Khan and Hrithik Roshan, the London-filmed I See You marks the first and final film of model Vipasha Agarwal.
Too bad nobody showed any enthusiasm in seeing a soulless, stiff knock off of an otherwise promising story.
Read the review here