2012 Wrap Up: Disappointing Films

Big budget, famous star-cast, heavy promotion and a big banner. All factors point towards the success of a film. But is it really? 2012 saw a lot of films disappoint the audience despite having the mentioned qualities, only and only because the script didn't fit the success formula. BollyCurry brings to you a list of movies which couldn't meet the hype and expectations, leaving us audience a little nonplussed.Teri Meri Kahaani starred Shahid Kapoor and Priyanka Chopra, the hit pair from the 2009 film, Kaminey. Produced and directed by Kunal Kohli, the film told the love stories of two people in three different lifetimes; 1910, 1960 and 2012. The much-awaited movie wasn't well-received by the critics and was a total fail at the box office.


Produced and directed by the National Award-winning Madhur Bhandarkar, Heroine starred Kareena Kapoor as the protagonist with names such as Arjun Rampal and Randeep Hooda playing  pivotal characters. The promising star-cast and critically acclaimed banner raised the bar of this movie sky-high. Unfortunately, the loose and unconvincing script was a disappointment. Despite top-notch acting and direction, the movie as a whole couldn't gather much appreciation and did below average business at the box office.Players was the Indian remake of the 2003 Hollywood blockbuster, The Italian Job, which itself was a remake of a 1969 British movie of the same name. It was directed by the famous duo Abbas-Mustan and starred big names such as Abhishek Bachchan, Bipasha Basu, Neil Nitin Mukesh, Bobby Deol among others as pivotal characters. However, the uninteresting screenplay and poor music gathered a lot of criticism and the film was declared a disaster at the box-office.Starring the real-life couple Saif Ali Khan and Kareena Kapoor, Agent Vinod was Khan's home production. Being an action and spy film, the critics praised the ambitiousness script but went on to say that it was an experiment gone wrong due to the lack of sharpness and smartness in the handling of the story. The movie subsequently flopped at the box office.


Directed by Vikram Bhatt, Dangerous Ishhq marked the comeback of blue-eyed beauty, Karisma Kapur, to Bollywood after six long years. With a story that spans four centuries and tells the tale of the past lives of the protagonist, the movie was classified as an epic disappointment with no redeeming factors to it. With nothing working in it's favour, it bombed at the box office as well.

Joker was a sci-fi fantasy film produced by Farah Khan and directed by her husband, Shirish Kunder. It stars Akshay Kumar in the lead role as a space scientist and Sonakshi Sinha plays his love interest. Critics didn't take too kindly to the film that dealt with aliens and even went on to say that it appeared to be from another planet altogether. The movie also got one of the lowest openings for an Akshay Kumar movie and was declared a major disaster at the box office.After giving a power-packed performance in No One Killed Jessica, Aiyya was Rani Mukherji's first movie after basking from her previous release's success. It also marked the Bollywood debut of the successful Malayalam film actor, Prithviraj Sukumaran. This was one of the most highly-anticipated movies because of it's promising cast and the Marathi flavour. However, it proved to be the another disappointment owing to the inadequacy in the plot. Though it managed to be an average hit at the box office, the outcome was still below the mark.Tezz is an action thriller directed by Priyadarshan. It had a huge cast with noted names such as Anil Kapoor, Ajay Devgn, Boman Irani, Kangna Ranaut among many others. The film received mixed reviews from the critics but was a failure at the box office, coming as quite bit of a surprise considering it's large cinematic release.


Directed by Ram Gopal Verma and starring Amitabh Bachchan, Rana Daggubati and Sanjay Dutt in the lead roles, Department was another movie with a promising cast and crew. It was an action film revolving around a gangster-turned-minister portrayed by Amitabh Bachchan while the roles of the police officers were played by the other two actors. The poor storyline gathered negative reviews from the critics audience alike as the film fizzled out of cinemas worldwide.A romantic comedy, Shirin Farhad Ki Toh Nikal Padi was produced and written by the sister of one of the most noted film directors; Sanjay Leela Bhansali's sister, Bela Bhansali Sehgal. It starred Boman Irani and Farah Khan in the lead roles playing 40-somethings year olds in the Parsi community, and though it received positive to mixed reviews from the critics, its performance at the box office was a disappointment as it was declared a flop.Directed by Ram Gopal Verma, Bhoot Returns, sequel of 2003's Bhoot, starred Manisha Koirala, J.D. Chakravarthy, Madhu Shalini and Alayana Sharma in pivotal roles. It was heavily criticized by critics as they even went on to say that the film should have never been made in the first place. The film didn't manage to do a good business at the box office neither.


Jodi Breakers was a comedy film starring R. Madhavan and  Bipasha Basu in the lead roles while Omi Vaidya and Dipannita Sharma in supporting characters. Creating talk due to it's unconventional pairing of the lead roles, the film met with controversies even before it's release as it was accused of having a plagiarized script. Upon release, it managed to do average business at the box office but mostly met with negative reviews.


Maximum, a crime and thriller film directed by Kabir Kaushik starring Naseeruddin Shah and Sonu Sood met with mixed to negative reviews from the critics. Facing stiff competition from movies such as The Amazing Spiderman, Bol Bachchan and Cocktail in it's first, second and third weeks respectively caused its to hide in the shadows and eventually fade away.


Kamaal Dhamaal Malamaal starred names like Nana Patekar, Paresh Rawal and Shreyas Talpade in pivotal roles. Being a comedy movie, this was one of the best cast ensembles it could ask for. However, it met with controversies with Catholic organizations who protested against the movie being blasphemous and offensive resulting in no good innings at the box office.As they say "Expectations sometimes lead to disappointments" which is clearly proved to be true by these films. Here's hoping 2013 will be a better year with less disappointing films.

Author: Neethi B.
Editors: Komal P. & Jenifer Y.
Graphics: Preet K.