Naam Bade aur Darshan Chote

Read More">The sun sets for Sooraj Barjatya with Main Prem Ki Diwani Hoon Sooraj Barjatya – this man needs no introduction whatsoever. The man behind some of the most successful films like Maine Pyar Kiya (1989) and Hum Aapke Hain Kaun (1994) and an average grosser Hum Saath Saath Hain (1999) was ready with his nextRead More

The sun sets for Sooraj Barjatya with Main Prem Ki Diwani Hoon

Sooraj Barjatya - this man needs no introduction whatsoever. The man behind some of the most successful films like Maine Pyar Kiya (1989) and Hum Aapke Hain Kaun (1994) and an average grosser Hum Saath Saath Hain (1999) was ready with his next release Main Prem Ki Diwani Hoon (2003) having youth icons Hrithik Roshan, Kareena Kapoor and Abhishek Bachchan in the lead. With an energetic star cast and Sooraj Barjatya at the driver's seat, the expectations were bound to be colossal. But all that came crashing down once the film hit the screens.

The same old plot - Two boys love one girl and girl has to decide. Add family values and six songs and voila you have MPKDH. Unlike his previous ventures, this film has nothing novel to offer. A hamming Hrithik, an over energetic Kareena and an underused Abhishek Bachchan - all disappointed. Sooraj Barjatya claimed that he took two years to write this film. And what did he give at the end of those two years. A plot line as old as Indian cinema and one of his worst films ever!

Vidhu Vinod Chopra doesn't come close to romance in Kareeb

Not many might be aware that Vidhu Vinod Chopra started his career with a bang with his documentary An Encounter with Faces (1978) which was nominated for the Oscars. His other entertaining films include Khamosh (1985), Parinda (1989) and 1942 - A Love Story (1994). He then ventured into a different genre altogether - ROMANCE.

Kareeb (1998) starred Bobby Deol and introduced Neha - a couple in love but obviously there has to be some problem between them otherwise the movie would have ended in 10 minutes. The problem with Kareeb was that it did not have much entertainment value and moved at a snail's pace. Unlike Chopra's previous movies (which were mostly thrillers), there was not much of a punch in the proceedings. Clearly, the resonance was missing in this one.

Read More">Subhash Ghai will want to forget Yaadein One of the most awaited movies of 2001 proved to be a damp squid at the box-office. Subhash Ghai’s Yaadein starring Hrithik Roshan and Kareena Kapoor in the lead managed to get a good opening but could not sustain itself in the weeks to come. The master filmmakerRead More

Subhash Ghai will want to forget Yaadein

One of the most awaited movies of 2001 proved to be a damp squid at the box-office. Subhash Ghai's Yaadein starring Hrithik Roshan and Kareena Kapoor in the lead managed to get a good opening but could not sustain itself in the weeks to come. The master filmmaker somehow lost his magical touch in this to be forgotten flick. The director of some of the most recognized films like Karz (1980), Hero (1983), Ram Lakhan (1989), Saudagar (1991), etc clearly missed the bus in this one. Shot at the alluring locales of London and Udaipur, Yaadein was bland in terms of content and entertainment value and is definitely one of Ghai's worst.

Picture This!
Hrithik goes to save Kareena from crocodiles (who sound something like out of Spielberg's Jurassic Park), gets bitten by a bug and gets severely sick. He somehow manages to put her in a life boat and manages to swim a great deal along with the boat to reach shore. When Kareena wakes up, she finds herself in the hospital and enquires about Hrithik. Doc says his condition is grave and severe and immediately in the next scene he is enjoying riding his bicycle.

Priyadarshan couldn't bring the house down in Yeh Teraa Ghar Yeh Meraa Ghar

Fresh from the success of Hera Pheri in 2000, director Priyadarshan came up with his next film a year later with Yeh Tera Ghar Yeh Mera Ghar (2001). There were huge expectations for this film to be a laugh riot but the jokes just fell flat on the actor's faces. Even an in-form Paresh Rawal could not strike a chord with your funny bone. Clearly Priyadarshan's sense of humor was not at its rib tickling best as this one dimensional flick met with a crashing response.

Even today when talking about his films, Priyadarshan (and also the media in general) enlists his comedy trilogy as Hera Pheri, Hungama and Hulchul conveniently overlooking this one that released in between.

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Suniel Shetty tries to woo Mahima Choudhary for selfish reason and she constantly avoids him and they have a battle of words all the time. In the end Suniel just tells her to move in together in his house and she agrees. Very convenient indeed!

Read More">A star’s face value speaks for itself. But should we underestimate the person at the driver’s seat – ‘The Director’. How many times have we seen a full-fledged recognized director come out with a major cinematic hiccup? IndiaFM presents to you a feature on some of the better directors in Indian cinema who somehow eitherRead More

A star's face value speaks for itself. But should we underestimate the person at the driver's seat - 'The Director'. How many times have we seen a full-fledged recognized director come out with a major cinematic hiccup?

IndiaFM presents to you a feature on some of the better directors in Indian cinema who somehow either let their success get to their heads or just under-estimated the audience. Well, we can just wonder what were they thinking?

Rakesh Roshan gives us a raw deal in Karobaar - The Business of Love

Not many might be aware that Rakesh Roshan had released a film called Karobaar (2000) just months after the mega success of Kaho Naa Pyar Hai. Starring A-Grade actors Anil Kapoor, Juhi Chawla and Rishi Kapoor, the film was loosely based on the Robert Redford-Demi Moore starrer Indecent Proposal. The film delayed by almost 6 years finally saw the light of the day with an overweight Rishi Kapoor romancing Juhi Chawla. A hilarious let down from the director who had earlier made hit flicks like Kudgarz (1987), Khoon Bari Maang (1988), Kishen Kanhaiya (1990), Karan Arjun (1995), etc. Another problem was that Rishi Kapoor's career graph had slid downwards (This was prior to films like Raju Chacha, Kuch Khatti Kuch Meethi, Hum Tum, etc where he played roles his age) and people just couldn't relate to him running around trees and being the son of Juhi Chawla (Yes, there is a double role in here as well).

This is definitely one movie which Rakesh Roshan and the entire cast wouldn't want to bet their assets on.

Picture this!
Rishi Kapoor separates from his pregnant wife Juhi because she spent the night at Anil Kapoor's place even though nothing happened. Years later Rishi believes Juhi because her child resembles him. The best part is that the child is also Rishi Kapoor.

Abbas-Mustan take a wrong turn with Taarzan - The Wonder Car

Boy's father loves car so boy loves cars as well. Boy's father is murdered in a car. Years later boy finds the car. The boy struggling to make ends meet somehow manages to build a state of the art designer car out of the rusty jalopy. Boy romances girl while driving the car. Car takes over because it has the spirit of the dead father. Dead father avenges his death by killing his murderers and they all live happily ever after. This was the story of Abbas Mustan's Taarzan - The Wonder Car (2004) starring new-comers Vatsal Seth, Ayesha Takia and Ajay Devgan as the spirit.

This Herbie meets Knight Rider meets My Mother - The Car (TV Series) proved neither technologically exciting nor cinematically entertaining. Abbas-Mustan who are known for their thrillers like Baazigar (1993), Ajnabee (2001) and Humraaz (2002) really shouldn't have ventured into this semi-experimental film of a petrol consuming ghost which is one of their weakest projects ever.

Picture This!
The car bangs against a train and is completely destroyed. After that the car shows its mercury man powers and assembles itself back to its original condition. In one scene it shrinks to the size of a toy car, in another it floats on water and in another it moves sideways without turning its wheels. And all this appears onscreen without a trace of conviction.

The only thing the car couldn't do was rake in the moolah for the producers.

Read More">Rajiv Rai redefines Bollywood geometry in Pyaar Ishq aur Mohabbat What do you do when you want a girl to fall in love with you? You find her a lover and make him break her heart and then you be there by her side to console her. That was the story line of Rajiv Rai’sRead More

Rajiv Rai redefines Bollywood geometry in Pyaar Ishq aur Mohabbat

What do you do when you want a girl to fall in love with you? You find her a lover and make him break her heart and then you be there by her side to console her. That was the story line of Rajiv Rai's Pyaar Ishq Aur Mohabbat; a disaster at the box-office. Rajiv Rai redefined the geometrical laws of Hindi cinema by adding one more angle to the age old triangular love story formula, introducing the concept of quadrangular love story. What he couldn't realize was the fact that the audience bored to death with triangles is not going to fall for squares.

Rai tries hard to justify three love stories, but the outcome gets tedious and confusing. After making amazing action thrillers like Tridev, Gupt and Mohra, this film was a let down by Rajiv Rai who followed this film up with another dud Asambav.

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There is an exchange offer at the end of the movie where Aftab Shivdasani replaces his bride Keerti Reddy with Arjun Rampal's girlfriend, Monica Bedi. Suniel Shetty gets a consolation prize in the form of Isha Koppikar to go with the happy ending cliché which in Hindi film means that all actors get paired.

No Family planning for Rajkumar Santoshi

Raj Kumar Santoshi's films off late like China Gate (1998), Pukar (2000), Lajja (2001), The Legend of Bhagat Singh (2002), Khakee (2004) had not really been box-office success stories but somewhere his direction and the theme that he selected was applauded. After the semi-success of Khakee, Santoshi teamed up with producer Keshu Ramsay once again to make Family - Ties of Blood (2006). Starring Amitabh Bachchan and Ramsay's son Aryeman along with Akshay Kumar in a brief role, the movie had nothing novel to offer and was quite predictable. For someone like Santoshi who was a trend setter with Ghayal (1990), Damini (1993) and Ghatak (1996), this film seemed like a half-hearted effort from the master director in terms of script and execution. A bad opening throughout India speaks about the sorry spate of the film.

Picture This!
Amitabh is the biggest don in the city but somehow Aryeman - a nobody, still manages to kidnap his entire family as easily as he got this film.

Ram Gopal Varma shows his two left feet with Naach RGV made Rangeela (1995) and Mast (1999) and both these movies had the film industry as the background. Along came Naach (2004) on the same setting, Read More">a film where Abhishek Bachchan shows his dancing prowess and Antara Mali shows a lot more. Naach was offbeatRead More

Ram Gopal Varma shows his two left feet with Naach

RGV made Rangeela (1995) and Mast (1999) and both these movies had the film industry as the background. Along came Naach (2004) on the same setting, a film where Abhishek Bachchan shows his dancing prowess and Antara Mali shows a lot more. Naach was offbeat and abstract. In plain words it was unusual. But Naach is one of those films that are genuinely different but the difference doesn't entertain or engross.

RGV tried a lot to make a good movie but the biggest drawback was its screenplay which moved at a very lethargic pace. RGV always confessed that Naach is one film that he made for himself and he happened to be the only one who loved it.

Madhur Bhandarkar lowers his Aan with this one

He came into the limelight with his second film Chandni Bar (2001) which churned in the National Award. It was followed by the critically acclaimed Satta (2003) which again got him rave reviews. Post Satta and pre Page 3 came in Aan - Men At Work (2004) starring a hoard of actors ranging from Akshay Kumar to Suniel Shetty to Shatrughan Sinha to Paresh Rawal.

This was Bhandarkar's most expensive film to date and unlike his previous ventures this film did not really have a stroke of realism despite being a cop drama. Unnecessary songs, overdone action, forced item numbers and bad dialogues proved to be a hindrance in this formula flick.