2005 was one of the best years for Bollywood, as there were quite a number of hits. Of course, the year had its fair share of disappointments as well. Here’s a look at the unexpected flops of 2005.

Mangal Pandey
This was Aamir Khan’s big comeback film, after a four year sabbatical. Considering his last few releases were Dil Chahta Hai — almost a cult film now — and the Oscar-nominated Lagaan, the expectations from Mangal Pandey were sky high.

Directed by Ketan Mehta, the film promised to whip up nationalistic fervour, as it was about the Indian soldier who took on the mighty British Empire, way back in 1857. Sadly, it didn’t whip up any takers at the box office. Mangal Pandey made at about Rs 500 million, and was just able to recover the money invested.

Kisna

What a disappointment!
It’s truly hard to believe a man like Subhash Ghai can direct such an awful film. The Showman — who has given us such successful movies as Karma, Ram Lakhan, Khalnayak and Pardes — seems to have misplaced his magic touch.

His last film Yaadein did well abroad, but was overall considered quite an embarrassment.

Shabd

All of Aishwarya Rai’s 2004 films – Kyon! Ho Gaya Na?, Bride & Prejudice and Raincoat — bombed. In 2005, she had just one release, Shabd. It bombed as well.
The film, co-starring Sanjay Dutt, saw her loosen up a bit and agree to a steamy bedroom scene with her leading man. When asked why she agreed to it, she replied,

I don’t need to do things to draw attention. I didn’t do that in the beginning and I don’t need to do that at this stage of my career.

The film did not draw any attention either.

Viruddh

After Vaastav, Mahesh Manjrekar has yet to prove himself at the box office. In the last six years, all his 11 films have bombed.

Yet, people wanted to believe in Viruddh. After all, it starred — and was even produced by — Amitabh Bachchan. While the critics were undecided about the film, the audiences had no doubts about giving it a miss.

Bewafaa

After Haan? Maine Bhi Pyaar Kiya flopped in 2002, we thought director Dharmesh Darshan would come up with something different. After films like Raja Hindustani and Dhadkan, we hoped the director would weave magic with his 2005 release, Bewafaa.

Shot in Canada, the movie had a bit of a star cast, including Akshay Kumar, Kareena Kapoor, Anil Kapoor, Sushmita Sen, Manoj Bajpai and Shamita Shetty. But the film, supposedly a family entertainer, was a sore disappointment.

Kyun Ki…
The Priyadarshan film, starring the never-paired-before duo of Salman Khan and Kareena Kapoor, generated lot of expectations. Kyon Ki? had a clear advantage because it released during Diwali, a time when almost all films win at the box office.

But the film was far too serious, and could not capture the magic of its Malayalam original, Thalavattam.

It bombed. And how!

Deewane Huye Pagal

When it comes to comedy, Akshay Kumar proved that he was an actor to reckon with in Garam Masala. The Priyadarshan movie was a big hit, and Deewane Huye Pagal opened just a few weeks after that. Besides, DHP starred the winning combination of Akshay, Suniel Shetty and Paresh Rawal (Hera Pheri, Awara Pagal Deewana).

There was just the right rumour buzz as well — it was reported that Akshay edited out a number of co-star Shahid Kapoor’s scenes. But the There’s Something About Mary remake had nothing special to offer.

Home Delivery

The film was supposed to rescue Vivek — sorry, Viveik Anand — Oberoi’s career from the doldrums. Besides, it was directed Sujoy Ghosh, who made a promising start with Jhankaar Beats in 2003.

For added luck, Vivek also changed his name.
But the film was a disaster. The plot was weak and left the audiences very disappointed.

Ek Ajnabee

The movie released at a time when Amitabh Bachchan was hospitalised. Directed by Apoorva Lakhia, who made Mumbai Se Aaya Mera Dost, Ek Ajnabee was inspired by the Hollywood film Man On Fire, starring Denzel Washington.

Big B was riding high on success this year with hits like Black, Bunty Aur Babli, Waqt and Sarkar. Besides, the sympathy wave was expected to sweep the box office. But Ek Ajnabee was no Coolie, and the audiences gave it the thumbs down.

Neal N Nikki

Old Bollywood saying:

Aditya Chopra can never go wrong.

All Yash Raj releases in the last few years have been hits. Like Bunty Aur Babli, Hum Tum, Dhoom, Salaam Namaste, Veer Zaara, Saathiya?

The Chopras even made stars out of Saif Ali Khan (Hum Tum) and John Abraham (Dhoom). So it was expected that Yash Chopra’s younger son Uday would hit the bull’s eye with Neal N Nikki.

The film, directed by Arjun Sablok, was also promoted aggressively. But audiences found it far too bold, and lacking in substance.
New Bollywood saying:

The audience knows better

Many reasons may be presented by the maker of the movie for its failure due to heavy friday rain in mumbai to tarot card readers and fortune tellers predictions. Have they been, more consicious to the asthetic values and core story for presenting the sensual movies, then they would have been in ‘one horse selgh’ with Santa distributing presents in this christmas season. The sleaze makers think of only ‘boobs & ass, wham bam‘ formula movies would easily entice audience and make them remain seated for next 2 hours.

Sauda – The Deal, directed by Jai Prakash hadPreeti Jhangiani and Aryan Vaid with some very intimate scences, but failed to leave impact on box office. Overall the basic storyline [inspired from Indecent Proposal] of the movie had enough ammunition to make way for a dramatic fare but turns out to be just a passable fare in the end.

Chetna ? Partho Ghosh directed this film’s USP was sex and sleaze. It had Payal Rohatgi, out-and-out skin show and seductive scenes. Needless to say the box office response to the film was disastrous.

Nazar directed by Soni Razdan created huge controversy due to its kiss scene. Even Pakistan Govt. had fined actress Meera for doing intimate scenes with her Indian co-star Ashmit Patel. It released on May 20, 2005, and what a mess it flopped despite all hype and hoopla, due to lack of strong story.

Time Pass – A Lust Story, became a flop story. It had Mona Chopra, next big thing in Mallika-Neha league, doing bold scenes with newcomer Arjun Punj, however failed to hit box office. All sleaze no story, finally makes audience and producer cry out loud like crazy.

Rain – Starring Meghna Naidu, a rain-phobic gal in ‘Rain’, went all out showing her cleavage. Meghna, a blind gal in the film, went blind having intercourse with ht ehero Himanshu Malik. In spite of all of these stunts, moviegoers showed less interest paying money for the movie.

Aashiq Banaya Aapne – Starring serial kisser of bollywood, Emraan Hashmi and beauty queen-turned-actress Tanushree Dutta were too shown in an intimate scene in a song of the movie. It promised explicit boldness, but peoples showed not much interest.

Double cross – Ek Dhamaka starring sex siren Negar Khan in the lead. Dhamaka, as expected, but not EK, DO; it crushed and miserably crushed at the box office.

Sultry Rakhi Sawant posed almost half nude in Khamosh but it was not enough to attract peoples to the theatres. The film released on April 15 this year, starring another seductress Shilpa Shetty but remained almost khamosh at the box office.

Showing Jalwa may be fun in love but may not be that funny in film business. Rich in skin show, but poor in box office responses. Still many makers believe sex sells. Do you?

Cast: Akshay Kumar, Bobby Deol, Kareena Kapoor, Lara Dutta, Mona Chopra, Juhi Chawla
Rating:
Official Website: www.dostifriendsforever.com

Synopsis

They had nothing in common. Karan [Bobby Deol] was wealthy and a mansion was his habitat. Raj [Akshay Kumar], an orphan, had empty pockets and the sky was his roof.

Karan’s jet ensured that he could fly if he wanted. Raj could only depend on his two feet. Karan had a family [Kiran Kumar, Lilette Dubey] and yet craved for love. Raj had love to share, but craved for a family.

Karan was the eternal casanova. Raj was the proverbial one-woman man. Karan had it all, and yet felt empty. Raj had nothing, but his heart was full.

They were two people as different as can be. Yet they found a common ground. One that led to the glorious road of friendship. Their bond was unshakable.

If Karan gave Raj a home and all the material comforts, Raj gave Karan a shoulder and all the emotional security. If Karan supported Raj at every step, Raj covered up for all of Karan’s misdoings. They laughed together, lied together, loved together and fought the odds together all in the name of friendship.

Their blind faith in each other was the envy of the world. But it was this very world that never let them forget that their’s was not a relationship of equals. And how long could an unequal relationship sustain?

Karan and Raj defied conventions proving that true friendship was above all such trivialities. But like a bolt out of the blue came a raging storm that threatened to sink the ship that housed the sentiments of the two friends.

Cast: Sanjay Dutt, Shahid Kapoor, Amrita Rao, Ishaan Khattar, Ishaan, Satya, Shweta
Rating:
Promo/Teaser/Jhalak: Download

After attempting a series of serious films, director Mahesh Manjrekar proves his versatility in a fantasy film with VAAH! LIFE HO TOH AISI. It may not rank amongst Manjrekar’s finest attempts, but the storyteller travels a path not many film-makers in Bollywood have dared to charter in the past.

Synposis
Aditya [Shahid Kapoor] lives with his grandmother [Suhasini Mulay], brother [Mohnish Bahl], sister-in-law [Ekta Bahl], sister and his brothers’ children. Neha [Amrita Rao] is the children’s tutor who lives in the same neighborhood. Both Aditya and Neha are in love and plan to get married.

Aditya gets his sister engaged to a person whose father demands Rs. 50 lacs as dowry. Aditya is left with no choice but mortgage his mansion since he is confident that a business deal will make him rich enough to repay the loan. But disaster strikes and Aditya meets with an accident. He dies in the operation theatre and finds himself in front of a well-dressed man who introduces himself as Yamraj [Sanjay Dutt].

Aditya pleads with Yamraj to let him return to earth to complete the pending jobs. But Yamraj sets two conditions: One, he can’t be seen or heard by anyone; two, Aditya has to sort all pending matters in one week itself. A deadline is set!

Aditya and a kid, Shakti [also dead on the same day as Aditya], return to earth and minutes after setting foot on the soil realize that a person called Fakira BPCM [Arshad Warsi] can see and listen to them. Fakira helps Aditya get super powers from Lord Hanuman and how Aditya goes about completing the unfinished task forms the crux of the story.

Bhatt’s are famous for taking inspiration, even from their own old movies. Same is the case for Jawani Diwani, its not just name that they have copied from the old movie, but even story too, although they have tend to not copy both from the same.

Synopsis

Mann Kapoor (Emraan Hashmi), a wannable singer, is a hard-core opportunist who puts his head before heart while grabbing an opportunity. Mann therefore does not hesitate in ?choosing? Radha (Hrishitaa Bhatt) as his love interest for a purely selfish cause as she is daugther of Umesh Jumani, a very successful music company owner.
An agreement for Mann’s music album and marriage with the daughter of the business tycoon is planned. This is a big enough reason to justify the demand by Mann’s friends for a treat in Goa.
Along with these three friends it’s trouble that lands up in Goa. Little does Mann visualize that his involvement with the Goa beauty, Roma (Celina Jaitley), intended to be a one-night stand would land him in trouble meant for a whole life span. The very day Mann is caught red handed sharing the bed with Roma; he is forced into wedlock with her. The person responsible for this being the underworld don, Chappu Bhai (Mahesh Manjrekar), a silent lover of Roma. Roma’s words which Chappu clearly remembers justifies his act ?The only person to touch me would be the one in whom I would see a partner for life.?

Roma, who’s had a soft corner for Mann, ever since she had seen him, stand true to these words. She cherishes the company of her husband and respects the bondage of the wedlock, even if it had been a forced one (Is she Jaya Parda in 80’s bollywood flick ?) . However what the marriage reflects for Mann is his ruined career and shattered dreams. Only a miracle could get him out of this mess, is what he believes. Roma proves to be one. Despite herself she frees from a relation, that had never been accepted by him. Divorced Mann, released from a cage flies down to Mumbai where Radha and more important Stardom awaits him.

Convincing Radha, who is genuinely in love with him, and who actually desires to be convinced, is not really difficult. Jumani who seems to be living for and because of his daughter cannot afford a different stand. Marriage is re-arranged, date re-planned.

Roma re-enters the life of Mann, though now only in professional terms. She is the chosen model and a co-star of Mann by Umesh Jumani, for his video. Passing days of the shoot make Mann realize his growing concern and possessiveness towards Roma. He realizes that it is for the first time that he is truly in love and he is surprised to realize that he could give up his career for love.

But, Roma, a woman who prioritizes heart over head, wouldn’t let him do that. Nor would she allow the dreams of some other woman be hurt due to her. She walks out of Mann’s life for the second time.

Marriage between Mann and Radha, scheduled after two months is pre-poned to an hour’s time by a shocked Radha who learns about his fianc?s with Roma. What a helpless Mann can do about this decision of hers is simply nod in an O.K.

Mann who has by now surrendered himself to his fate, is over awed as his destiny takes a third twist.

Who does Mann choose to be his life- partner?
Does he put his love or career on the line?
Will he be able to make the right decision?
Whose heart will he end up breaking?

This time Bhatt shaab, you missed the bus.

No longer do the mushy romantic stories, embellished with elaborate song n? dance routines, rule the box-office. The stereotype that stifled variety in Bollywood movies is beginning to break. Thanks to some real good quality cinema that came out from Bollywood this year.

The first successful movie of the year, Page 3 , was a semi realistic film that took a raw look into the elitist world through the eyes of a journalist. The movie, starring Konkana Sen , had no big, saleable star to boast of. But it had a script, had direction and had acting performances that bound the audience to the screen. Madhur Bhandarkar ?s movie hit the bull?s eye. It got critical acclaim and, on the top of it, it kept the cash registers ringing, keeping the producers happy.

Sanjay Leela Bhansali lived upto the high expectations that the industry and movie buffs had of him. His Black turned out to be not just a skillfully directed movie, but it saw Amitabh Bachchan stretching his acting skills to a new high. Rani Mukherjee , who never ceases to surprise with her acting range, played a blind-deaf-mute girl in the movie and gave a performance that will in all likelihood fetch her the best actress awards in the coming year.

Rani played a small town con-girl in Bunty Aur Babli with Abhishek Bachchan. Eventhough film pundits totally panned the movie, it turned out to be biggest worldwide grosser of the year. Above all, the movie gave the song, Kajra Re, that has become a cult track on the dance floors. Not to miss Big B feat. in rap.

Abhishek?s good fortune at the box-office continued with Ram Gopal Varma?s Sarkar . The movie, gritty, stark and hard-hitting, was Ramu?s tribute to Francis Ford Coppola?s ?The Godfather?. Both Bunty Aur Babli and Sarkar had Amitabh and Abhishek together. Their presence definitely was one of the selling points of the two movies.

The halcyon days of Bengal were revisited in Pradeep Sarkar?s adaptation of Sarat Chandra?s story in Parineeta that introduced Vidya Balan , who won immense praise for her talent and natural beauty. The movie saw Bollywood?s ?cool dude with a rockstar?s attitude?, Saif Ali Khan , showing his versatility in the role of a traditional, jealous lover who cannot reclaim his love.

Saif then took a somersault and played an antithetical character of an easy-going, modern chef with an apparent lack of commitment to serious relationships in Salaam Namaste , with Preity Zinta.

While other stars were making hay, the sun seemed a bit less bright on the Bollywood?s superstar Shah Rukh Khan. The man who gave three big movies last year ( Main Hoon Na , Veer Zaara and Swades ) hogged the limelight for a short time with his Paheli , that garnered much better response at the box-office overseas than back at home. As some consolation at home, the movie was selected as the Indian entry for the Oscars.

Lucky stars also seemed less benign on Aamir Khan , whose much vaunted movie ?Mangal Pandey – The Rising ? failed to live upto the mammoth expectations its pre-release publicity had created. What salvaged the movie was the initial good opening that was partly due to the fact that it was the only Aamir starrer to have released in the last few years.

Among the big celluloid offerings, it was the unexpected No Entry that took a lead over the rest and emerged as the most successful flick of the year. A tale of three men on an extra-marital fling, ?No Entry? appealed to youth and family audiences alike because of its high entertainment value without using many double entendres.

A rib-tickling comedy on the lines of MASTI and AMERICAN PIE, this Sangeeth Sivan-directed film follows the same path that David Dhawan pioneered in Bollywood.
Targeted at the youth and laced with naughty jokes and hilarious situations. Meet Rahu & Karan, former sincere, simple and hardworking, while latter is just the opposite.

Happy-go-lucky star Akshay Kumar finally had his best shots in 14 years , with hit family drama ‘Waqt’ along with avereges Garam Masala and Deewana Banaya Aapne.

In fact, year 2005 can be dubbed as the year of comedy films. Films like ?No Entry?, Maine Pyar Kyon Kiya , Garam Masala and ?Bunty Aur Babli? enjoyed a good run at the box-office.

All in all, the successful movies of year 2005 had one thing in common ? they were different and offered something new and creative. That is why I said Bollywood is maturing.

Celina Jaitley dismisses rumours of her alleged hot rendezvous with Emraan Hashmi in Mauritius saying, ?Give us a break. He is a good friend and he has a girlfriend too. Every girl is possessive of her man. It would naturally upset her. I?ve been upset over the issue too. I am answerable to my parents.? (more…)

In a 1948 article entitled, “What is Wrong with Indian Films,” Ray criticized India’s movement away from art and towards either musicals or heavy mysticism:

The raw material of the cinema is life itself. It is incredible that a country which has inspired so much painting and music and poetry should fail to move the moviemaker. He has only to keep his eyes open, and his ears. Let him do so.

(more…)