Box Office Analysis: 13 TERRIBLE films that actually became a HIT!

Bollywood is known to have such filmmakers who put zero logic and content in their films but they still manage to set the box office ringing. What did these films really have at the end of the day? A few well-known names, good music and the most important of all, a solid marketing strategy! And certain filmmakers today STILL think that it’s the formula of a successful film. One can hardly argue that they are wrong since they do get away with making money.

A filmmaker always makes a film for the audience, so isn’t it actually US who are promoting such films?

Let’s take a look at some of the heavily criticized and trolled films who were actually quite a success at the box office.

Dilwale – 372 crores globally and 148 crores domestically.

This film was sold on the very day the film was announced since it marked the reunion of SRK-Kajol on the big screen. This Rohit Shetty directorial had all that you’d expect out of a Rohit Shetty flick, but it did not have a sensible story or any interesting characters at all. Yet, the film made 148 crores in India alone!

Prem Ratan Dhan Paayo – 207 crores in India and 367 crores globally

A yet another example of a film that lacked content and performance but still got away with star power was this Barjatya directorial. Although one would ask themselves as to how do people still make such films, the Salman Khan-starrer walked out of the theatre screens laughing at critics because hey! Box office numbers don’t lie, do they?

Happy New Year – 205 Crores in India, 345 crores worldwide.

The promos of this heist film did promise us a one-of-a-kind and an engaging take on the heist film genre, but the promises held no value once the film had finally released. Although moviegoers and critics did not like the films at all, nothing really stopped this multi-starrer film to make as much money as possible on the ticket counters.

Krrish 3 – 291 crores worldwide and 240 crores in India.

Krrish as a superhero film series looked really promising after a stellar start to the franchise with the first film and the intriguing transformation that Roshan had gone through amid all possible obstacles for this film, but, moviegoers and film critics did not really find much to like in it on the day of its release and soon our hopes with any film that had to do with Krrish as the main protagonist were thwarted. Yet, with a figure of 240 crores that the film brought in domestically, it became one of the highest domestic grossers of that year.

Bang Bang – 270 crores worldwide and 181 crores in India

A near-blind remake of the Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz-starrer Knight and Day, this Hrithik-Katrina film did not even impress the people who hadn’t even seen the original. But still, we guess the film everything it needed to be a success at the Indian Box Office, given the kind of numbers it went home with.

Ra.One – 207 crores worldwide and 115 at the Indian Box Office

Ra.One clearly showed us as to what Red Chillies Entertainment was capable of in terms of visual effects. However, individual performances to an extent and the CGI was the only good thing about it. The film did not really please the critics, or even the audience for that matter, in terms of its storyline. But, at the end of it all, it was a Shah Rukh Khan film, so it made all the money it could.

Housefull 3 – 195 crores worldwide and 109 crores in India

All this comedy film ever had was a handful of the most known faces in Bollywood and nothing else. No script. No comedy and no logic (not even in a scarce supply). But, the box office had a different story to tell.

Race 2 – 162 crores worldwide and 102 crores in India

Given that Abbas-Mustan and producer Ramesh Taurani had already delivered a massive blockbuster in the form of Race 1, the expectations from the second installment were naturally sky high. We don’t know if it were our expectations or just the fact that the scripting was rather poor, the film failed to impress us. Hope that things will be different with Race 3

Son Of Sardaar – 135 crores worldwide and 106 crores in India.

Another run of the mill promising action masala film that failed to meet our expectations was this Ajay Devgn-Sanjay Dutt starrer. Although the film had nothing great to offer, the theatre owners did not mind that at all. Well, does a businessman mind at all if money is coming in irrespective of a bad product?

Welcome Back – 169 crores worldwide and 132 crores in India

Here is a yet another example of why a sequel of a hit comedy flick should NOT be made. The film was nowhere close to the Akshay Kumar-Katrina Kaif starrer Welcome but hey! Who went laughing to the bank at the end of the day after all?

Singh is Bliing – 125 crores worldwide and 98 crores in India

Perhaps one of the few Akshay Kumar films that audience can NEVER get themselves to like is this film which also had Amy Jackson and Lara Dutta in supporting roles. But, when a film is making money irrespective of a good script, who cares right?

Shivaay – 146 crores worldwide and 112 crores in India.

The film promised a lot; Action, Drama and some serious Hollywood level visual effects, and we must say that the film delivered on most of it. But, its weakest point was indeed the plot line. Although it was a great attempt at making a world-class Indian Action/Drama feature film, Ajay Devgn the superstar definitely deserved a better script.

Humshakals – 87 crores worldwide and 71 crores in India.

This was a film that I remember walking out of in the interval with many others, and yet it’s a surprise as to how the film made the money it did. Undoubtedly one of the worst films that Bollywood has ever made and yet the film was into profit at the end of its run.

It’s time we open our eyes and really give way to some solid content-driven films and deserving filmmakers and look beyond the typical escapism cinema that the Indian audience has been so used to. However, with films starring A-listers failing solely because of the script and films like Newton doing really well at the box office, we definitely see a ray of hope.

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