While many believe that Bollywood films earn the big numbers due to the star factor more than content, it’s not always true. Many films have proven that featuring just A list stars and having earth-shattering budgets isn’t enough to make the film successful. So, we take a look at some of the most expensive films of Bollywood which turned out to be duds at the box-office.
Blue (2009)
Director: Anthony D’Souza
Blue was an action drama film which was written by American writers Joshua Lurie and Bryan M. Sullivan. The film stars Sanjay Dutt, Akshay Kumar, Zayed Khan and Lara Dutta in lead roles and also has a special appearance by Katrina Kaif in the film. International singing sensation Kylie Minogue also featured in a song in the film. In the film, we see Aarav (Akshay Kumar) who runs a successful fishing company under the title of Blue Fisheries. Sagar (Sanjay Dutt) works as a diver in his company. Sagar is in a relationship with Mahima "Mona" Singhania (Lara Dutta) and plans to marry her. Sagar’s younger brother Sam (Zayed Khan) who is working for Gulshan (Rahul Dev), is set up by the latter for failing to deliver a package worth $ 50 million. He tells him that either he must pay up or die. Sam runs away to the Bahamas, hoping that Gulshan won’t be able to find him there. Eventually, Gulshan does track him down and Sam finds himself in the middle of nowhere surrounded by Gulshan and his henchmen. As it seemed the end was near for Sam, Aarav comes in on the last moment and manages to help Sam escape. Later, Sam tells Sagar and Aarav the entire story. He tries to convince Sagar to find the treasure in the bottom of the ocean which can solve all their problems. Initially, Sagar refuses but when Gulshan kidnaps Mona and asks them to pay up or she dies. This is when they realise they don’t have any other choice. Sagar is still hesitant as it is revealed that Sagar had a haunted and shocking past with Lady in Blue (The Ship in which the treasure was buried in). Years ago, Sagar had to abandon his archaeologist father, Aadesh Singh, at the ship, to save his own life. However, after Aarav convinces Sagar that the treasure will save the lives of both Mona and Sam, Sagar finally agrees.
When the three of them finally find the treasure they are shocked to hear that Aarav had hired Gulshan to do all this. Aarav kills Gulshan and takes a leap into the ocean.
Three months later, Sagar gets a call from Aarav saying that his father was the captain of the ship “Lady in Blue” and bringing the treasure back bought honour to his family. He also said that he used Sagar because he knew he was the only man who could get him to the ocean.
The film had a ton of loopholes in the plot. The first half is wasted establishing the characters and to set-up the hunt for the treasure. Now getting to the treasure is one risky task, something many have tried and lost their lives. But the ease with which the characters get the lost chest, surrounded by sharks, you wonder why no one could ever get to it in 50 odd years!
During the time of release, it was the most expensive Bollywood film ever. Made on a budget of 70 crores, the film managed to collect only 39 crores throughout its run at the box office.
Drona (2008)
Director: Goldie Behl
Drona was another failed attempt at the superhero genre by Bollywood. The film starred Abhishek Bachchan, Priyanka Chopra, Jaya Bachchan and Kay Kay Menon. Drona’s story revolved around a man named Aditya (Abhishek Bachchan). Being brought up in London by a foster family, he was unaware of his real identity and the destiny that awaited him. Somewhere far away, an evil sorcerer, Riz Raizada (Kay Kay Menon), a descendant of the asuras (legendary demons) had become dangerously impatient, in his thirst for the precious secret. The secret, which was the missing link, is this grand plan of taking over the universe. And to get that secret he will have to defeat Drona. The only problem being he didn’t know where and who Drona is. Once Aditya and Riz come face to face and the latter recognises that Aditya is Drona. Aditya has no clue why men are trying to hunt him down. Just when he was about to be captured, a cult that believed that The Drona was their Messiah came to his rescue. Sonia (Priyanka Chopra), the leader of the cult, reveals his true to identity. She decides to take him to his mother Queen Jayanti Devi (Jaya Bachchan), as she believes that she will have the answers to all his questions. But, before that Riz catches up to them. This is when Drona stands up and becomes the legendary warrior he was born to be.
Drona had an extremely poor run at the box office. Made at a budget of 60 crores, the film wasn’t able to collect even half of its production cost. The lifetime collections of the film was just 18 crores.
Bombay Velvet (2015)
Director: Anurag Kashyap
Bombay Velvet was a period crime drama film which starred Ranbir Kapoor, Anushka Sharma, Karan Johar and Kay Kay Menon in leading roles. The film was loosely based on historian Ryan Prakash’s book Mumbai Fables. Bombay Velvet was set in the 1960s and revolves around Barlraj (Ranbir Kapoor), a street fighter, who is in love with a Jazz singer called Rosie (Anushka Sharma). Seeing Rosie with a big businessman, he feels the need to become a big shot himself. Motivated by the idea that he will be able to win her heart if he becomes rich, Balraj and his friend grab the attention of Kaizad Khambatta (Karan Johar), who is impressed by Balraj and makes him an offer to manage his club called Bombay Velvet. Kaizad uses the club to mask many of his illegal activities. Kaizad also gives him the nickname of Johnny which later becomes his identity. Johnny earns the trust of Kaizaad by doing things for Kaizad which also includes capturing a dirty photograph of a minister who Kaizad wants to blackmail. This reaches Jimmy Mistry (Manish Choudhary), a media reporter who was close to Rosie. He knew that Johnny always had a soft spot for her and decides to take advantage of that by sending Rosie to the club with the task of getting information on the doings of Johnny and Kaizad. Johnny and Rosie grow close over time after which Jimmy resorts to blackmailing Rosie to make her leak information. After a photograph from a meeting between the big wigs of Bombay is leaked, Kaizad figures that Rosie is the one responsible behind it and issues an order to kill her. Upon hearing this, Johnny forms an enmity with Kaizad, the very man who got him to the world of crime. Kaizad ends up kidnapping Rosie himself and shoots her to provoke Johnny. After which, Johnny stabs Kaizad and is shot himself in the process. However it is later shown that Rosie survived that gunshot.
Bombay Velvet was without a doubt one of the most hyped movies in recent years mainly due to the star cast of Ranbir Kapoor, Anushka Sharma and Karan Johar (who made his full-fledged acting debut with the film) and a director like Anurag Kashyap pulling the strings behind the camera. Unfortunately it failed to live up to people’s expectations. While the production design was top notch, the film on its whole had so many things happening at one time that it was difficult to connect with what is happening. While the first half doesn’t do a bad job building up the story, the second half relies on clichés which seem too silly to be a part of such a well thought out film.
Bombay Velvet was made on a budget of 118 crores and managed to recover only 23 crores back from the ticket windows.
Chandni Chowk To China (2009)
Director: Nikkhil Advani
Chandhi Chowk To China was India’s first martial arts action film. The film was a story about Sidhu (Akshay Kumar) a lowly vegetable cutter in Delhi. Things take a turn when two strangers from China claim him as a reincarnation of war hero 'Liu Shen' and take him to China, Sidhu, encouraged by a trickster called Chopstick (Ranvir Shorey), believes he will be feted as a hero, unaware of his own recruitment to assassinate the smuggler Hojo (Gordon Liu). Sidhu manages to escape from Hojo a few times but eventually he gets exposed by him. Hojo kills his Dada (Mithun Chakraborty) and urinates on Sidu leaving him humiliated. Sidhu vows for a revenge on Hojo. Sidhu trains hard and is able to beat Hojo in a single combat using the help of a special vegetable-cutting technique to overwhelm him.
Chandhi Chowk To China is a film that makes Singh Is King seem like a highly textured work of complex characterisation and nuanced writing. To sum it up, it was a disastrous over budget mess. Akshay tried his best, but the film itself couldn’t quite decide whether to be a massively over-the-top bit of masala (like Kumar's own vaguely enjoyable Khiladiyon Ka Khiladi) or an out-and-out spoof (like Shah Rukh Khan's guilty pleasure silly movie Baadshah). The film was made on a budget of 62 crores and was able to make only a total of 30 crores at the box office. Chandni Chowk To China (2009)
Director: Nikkhil Advani
Chandhi Chowk To China was India’s first martial arts action film. The film was a story about Sidhu (Akshay Kumar) a lowly vegetable cutter in Delhi. Things take a turn when two strangers from China claim him as a reincarnation of war hero 'Liu Shen' and take him to China, Sidhu, encouraged by a trickster called Chopstick (Ranvir Shorey), believes he will be feted as a hero, unaware of his own recruitment to assassinate the smuggler Hojo (Gordon Liu). Sidhu manages to escape from Hojo a few times but eventually he gets exposed by him. Hojo kills his Dada (Mithun Chakraborty) and urinates on Sidu leaving him humiliated. Sidhu vows for a revenge on Hojo. Sidhu trains hard and is able to beat Hojo in a single combat using the help of a special vegetable-cutting technique to overwhelm him.
Chandhi Chowk To China is a film that makes Singh Is King seem like a highly textured work of complex characterisation and nuanced writing. To sum it up, it was a disastrous over budget mess. Akshay tried his best, but the film itself couldn’t quite decide whether to be a massively over-the-top bit of masala (like Kumar's own vaguely enjoyable Khiladiyon Ka Khiladi) or an out-and-out spoof (like Shah Rukh Khan's guilty pleasure silly movie Baadshah). The film was made on a budget of 62 crores and was able to make only a total of 30 crores at the box office.
Love Story 2050 (2008)
Director: Harry Baweja
Love Story 2050 was a science fiction love story which starred Harman Baweja and Priyanka Chopra in leading roles. The film drew a lot of similarities to the 1991 Telugu film Aditya 369. While the Telugu film dealt with travel to the past as well as the post-apocalyptic future, Love Story 2050 was exclusively about travelling to an utopian future-city of Mumbai in the year 2050. This is also regarded as Bollywood’s first attempt in the time travel genre.
In the film, we see Karan Malhotra (Harman Baweja) and Sana (Priyanka Chopra), two people who are completely opposite in nature but end up falling in love. Unfortunately, Sana dies in a car accident before the two get married. Karan recollects Sana talking about how she wishes to see how Mumbai will look like in the year 2050 and feels there is a bigger reason behind why she mentioned this year so specifically. So, Karan goes to his uncle, Dr. Yatinder Khanna (Boman Irani), who dedicated 15 years of his life in building the time machine hoping that he can get him to the future.
In Mumbai, in 2050, Karan sees Ziesha, the reincarnation of Sana. Ziesha is a popular singer in 2050 who does not remember her past life, but gets flashbacks of it after meeting Karan. Karan proposes his love for her but Zeisha doesn’t buy his story on time travel and he is taken away. Later, Zeisha gets her hands on Sana’s diary and after reading it she gets all her memories as Sana back again. When Karan returns, she declares her love for him and also the fact that she is Sana. However, Karan and Dr.Yatinder were being chased down by an evil demi god in the form of Dr.Hoshi. Dr.Hoshi wants his hands on the time machine invented by Dr.Yatinder. After a wild attempt to catch Karan and Ziesha, Hoshi crashes into a nuclear substance truck and dies. Karan and Dr.Yatinder head back to 2008 along with Zeisha. Everyone is overjoyed to see Sana again and the two live happily ever after.
Harman Baweja received extremely poor reviews for his performance in the film. While many compared his looks to Hrithik Roshan, it seems that the similarities ended there.
Love story 2050 was a disaster of epic proportions at the box office. Made at a budget of 40 crores the film only managed to rake in 11 crores at the box office.
Harman drives this big budget sci-fi flick the same way his character drives his father's MG roadster in the film: from zero to write-off in under ten seconds.
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