Second time lucky: The 13 directors who failed first time!

By Rajiv Vijayakar -

August 30, 2016 - 11:01 AM IST

We all know that films are a game of struggle and you are only as good as your last film even after a series of hits. This is becoming increasingly the case with spiraling economics and exorbitant ticket rates making the audience not only quite choosy but completely ruthless.

Second time lucky: The 13 directors who failed first time!

In such a scenario, to get a second chance at making a film is plain good luck-and actually making the grade with that film is that same luck in extraordinary measure plus hard work. Here are the lucky 13 (!) directors who landed with a thud with their debut offerings and rose from the ashes, so to speak.

1999 Sanjay Leela Bhansali / Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam

In 1996, Bhansali directed the extremely poignant Khamoshi-The Musical, but the placid pace and stretched narrative probably put paid to the returns despite the innovative Nana Patekar-Salman Khan combo. Weird theories of the film flopping because Nana was shown as a mute surfaced, though! But Bhansali began his musical reputation here itself, for in an era when a film was needed to be a hit for its music to work, the music was a sellout!

With his second film, Bhansali upped the scale, had more fabulous and hit music, repeated Salman Khan, and roped in Ajay Devgn and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan for a foolproof Indian love triangle in which the wife returns to her husband and gives up the former lover in the end (remember Sangam, Gumrah, Badaltey Rishtey, Woh 7 Din? ).

Today, Bhansali is a mega-brand, and makes among the costliest films here.

2004 Anurag Basu / Murder

Strictly speaking, this was Anurag's third film, but Kuchh To Hai was a joint directorial with Anil V. Kumar. Basu began his solo innings with Saaya (2003), a brilliant love story with outstanding music. However, it was not marketed well despite a Jism-hot John Abraham. Undeterred, Mukesh Bhatt placed his bets again on the director and came up with a thriller laced with lots of erotica, like Jism. The film became the biggest hit of that year despite the Adults Only tag, and Anurag survived even the flop that followed, Tumsa Nahin Dekha.

Anurag is respected today as a perfectionist in films and music, and people are hopeful even of the delayed Jagga Jasoos.

2006 Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra / Rang De Basanti

In 2001, Mehra's Aks, a surrealistic thriller, bit the dust despite Amitabh Bachchan being hot. Mehra reinvented, went patriotic, signed an ensemble cast led by Aamir Khan and got A.R. Rahman to do some commercially hot tracks-and scored.

Today, Mehra's Mirziya is expected to be an above-the-rut product, especially after his last outing Bhaag Milkha Bhaag.

2006 Rohit Shetty / Golmaal-Fun Unlimited

Rohit Shetty had a bad start as his gripping thriller Zameen simply failed to pick up then-today, it is a hit on the satellite circuit! The action director decided to try his hand at a genre he has mastered since-comedy, and came up with Golmaal-Fun Unlimited. It worked and spawned three sequels in 10 years!

Today, Shetty is now playing safe with comedy in the third sequel, Golmaal Again, after misadventures like Singham Returns and Dilwale. No one doubts his command over action either.

2007 Imtiaz Ali / Jab We Met

The delightful Sunny Deol production for his cousin Abhay Deol, Socha Na Tha, fell flat for no known reason-today, it is a much-loved film on TV. Imtiaz then went to bigger stars, a bigger composer and a more ambitious canvas, and came up trumps with Jab We Met starring Shahid Kapoor and Kareena Kapoor (Khan).

Today, despite his rocky box office record that began with Rockstar, Imtiaz has become a brand identified with the so-called "evolved" mainstream cinema. He is making a film with Shah Rukh Khan now.

2009 Kabir Khan / New York

Kabir scored brilliantly in his first film, Kabul Express, showing his flair for telling stories against a political (usually militant) backdrop with meticulous research. However, the film tanked despite the Yash Raj Films clout. His next, New York, decided to blend his penchant for gritty detail with big stars and a commercial element. The result: a hit.

Today, Kabir is among the most luminous filmmakers in Hindi cinema, who is known to have reinvented the tastes and image of our biggest star, Salman Khan, with whom he is now doing Tubelight.

2009 Zoya Akhtar/Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara

Zoya was clearly not too affected by Luck By Chance, which was too realistic and so quite dreary for the ticket-buying audiences. She spruced up her act, took on the foolproof three-hero formula of brother, hero and co-writer Farhan Akhtar and made a breezily entertaining yet realistic Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara.

She is said to be planning her quirky next with Ranveer Singh.

2012 Shoojit Sircar / Vicky Donor

The director's Yahaan on militancy in Kashmir, he feels, was ahead of its time. While we may doubt that, this Bengali-based-in-Delhi brought Delhi and a major social issue to authentic life in his sleeper hit Vicky Donor, extracting a clean entertainer out of a subject like sperm donation.

Sircar has found his balance today after Piku and is set to release a film he has co-scripted and produced Pink, whose trailer has made waves.

2013 Vijay Krishna Acharya / Dhoom 3

He is the writer of the Dhoom franchise, which producer Aditya Chopra had always planned as a series. He got in to also direct the third part after Aditya's fallout with director Sanjay Gadhvi. Though there were all kinds of unkind rumours of Aditya's ghost direction here, Acharya took Dhoom 3 to a mega-hit status, making people forget that he was the man behind a dreary action calamity called Tashan in 2008.

Right now, he is helming a film with Amitabh Bachchan and Aamir Khan for YRF.

2015 Sabbir Khan/ Heropanti

His debut, Kambakkht Ishq, in 2009, was a stylized entertainer that went wrong on some crucial counts for Hindi film lovers, despite Akshay Kumar and Kareena Kapoor Khan and Hollywood talents in key roles led by Sylvester Stallone. Sabbir decided to tell a simple story, Heropanti, through two new talents whom he decided to burnish-and so were born Tiger Shroff and Kriti Sanon. And bagged a hit! After Baaghi, he now completes a hat-trick with Tiger in the forthcoming Munna Michael.

2016 Mudassar Aziz / Happy Bhag Jayegi

The pitch-perfect Happy… rollercoaster that has more screens and shows in week 2 has made us junk memories of Mudassar's debut drag of a film, Dulha Mil Gaya (2010). His special forte seems also to be his dialogues.

2016 Shakun Batra / Kapoor & Sons

Shakun had gone hopelessly wrong with the unpalatably fake Ek Main Aur Ekk Tu. This time, he used his contemporary slant to pad up a solidly emotional tale in Kapoor & Sons. We are eager to see what he comes up with next.

2016 Tinu Suresh Desai / Rustom

Tinu's debut 1920 London was nothing short of disastrous. But he pulled up his socks when Akshay Kumar, who had known him since he was a boy working as assistant, and Neeraj Pandey put their trust in him. Today, Tinu is known as the director of the fastest Akshay Kumar film to hit Rs. 100 crore, and the biggest hit of the year after Sultan.