Box Office Disasters That Only A Bollywood Icon Like Sanjay Dutt Could Survive

The 90’s Bad Boy Sanjay Balraj Dutt debuted into the movie industry with a box office hit Rocky in 1981, with the media touting him as the next big superstar of Bollywood, and Dutt successfully played the role endowed onto him. However, the path to success has not always been smooth in Dutt’s life with him facing trials and tribulations no less than that showcased in Sanju. Forever embroiled in controversies, Dutt has appeared in over 187 movies his flops like Zameen Aasman(1984) and Khatron Ke Khiladi (1988)  largely outnumbering his hits. Here are 15 of the worst flops of Bollywood’s Khalnayak:

1.       Johnny, I Love You (1982)

Source: YouTube

Just after his super hit debut movie ‘Rocky’in 1981, Dutt’s next movie ‘Johnny I Love You’ tanked at the box office, with industry pundits pegging Dutt as a one-film-wonder.

2.       Khatron Ke Khiladi (1988)

This was the first movie where Sanjay Dutt and Madhuri Dixit starred together. The movie despite its promising cast including the He-Man of Bollywood Dharmendra, went down in flames, much like the stars’ blazing love affair.

3.       Insaaf Apne Lahoon Se (1994)

After the 1993 blockbuster ‘Khalnayak’ which was the second highest grossing film of 1993, things were finally looking up for our star, but this movie again turned out to be a catastrophe, and it was followed by a string of 8 movies which just could not make it at the box office. We are wondering where is the Insaaf in continuously losing the producers’ money Sanju?

4.       Vijeta (1996)

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Even the sizzling Raveen Tandon could not save this film, which collected a mere 3 crore at the Indian box office, hardly breaking even with the movie’s budget. We are pretty sure that the only person who wasn’t snoring in the movie theatres was Tandon with her ‘Neend Nai Aati’ song.

5.       Namak (1996)

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Garnering only 31 lacs at the box office, this movie was full of typical Bollywood formulaic characters, lacking any seasoning to make it pop out whatsoever, unlike its name.

6.       Annarth (2002)

The very making of this movie seems to be an Annarth and what exactly was going through the director’s mind when he tried to pass off Vinod Kamble as an actor will be a question he will be held answerable for on the Judgement Day.  As for Dutt, he should have just stuck to the initially intended small part in the movie because this added to yet another debacle to the ever-growing pile, the chances of surmounting which seemed pretty slim.

7.       Rudraksh (2004)

Source: GlamSham

Though the movie had Bollywood bigwigs such as Dutt, Sunil Shetty and Amitabh Bachchan as the narrator, and the story looked original and unlike any that Bollywood had seen before. However, originality is definitely not a virtue when it comes to this movie. Touted to have Matrix-like special effects, the film didn’t even scratch the surface of what it could achieve in the genre of sci-fi and sadly but not unexpectedly was yet another miss by Sanju.

8.       Tathastu (2006)

Source: YouTube

A Bollywood rendition of the Hollywood flick ‘John Q’, the movie grossed just over 2crores at the box office in India, its budget being 11 crores. The only question which comes to mind after watching this movie is John Q Kyun?

9.   Mehbooba (2008)

Source: LyricsBogie

it’s said that past mistakes always come back to haunt us as did this movie to tarnish Dutt’s just repaired with the Munna Bhai series . A movie which took over 10 years to finally release is based upon a casanovesque character bent on revenging a slap from a pure Indian woman who swears by her etiquettes, his success and her dismay, her fleeing the country only to fall in love with the most perfect male specimen, and the depraved man turning out to be the perfect man’s brother and having fallen in love with the Pure Indian Girl. Sounds Familiar? We don’t know what directors Afzal Khan and Tabrez Hashmi but they surely don’t get any points for innovation.

10.   Blue (2009)

This ambitious 129 crore budget project was Bollywood’s most expensive film of 2009, and sadly one of the of the worst failures in the Bollywood history, grossing 75 crores. The only thing memorable about the movie was Australian singer Kylie Minogue’s ‘Chiggy Wiggy’ track. If only as hard work had been put into making the movie’s plot as interesting. Amidst the action sequences and the bike chases the plot of the movie is drowned, leaving the audience feeling blue, Sanju’s career in treacherous waters.

11.   Knock Out (2010)

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The movie was an unauthorized remake of the Hollywood flick ‘Phonebooth’ with a pinch of Bollywood’s own ‘A Wednesday’ mixed, the final result lacking the finesse of both. As a result, the movie tanked at the box office.

12.   Chatur Singh Two Stars (2011)

Source: Bollywood Bubble

Earning just over 2.4 crores, the movie failed miserably at the box office, and can easily be called Dutt’s worst movie ever. The only achievement of this movie is its ability to be a testament to all that can fail in a comedy.

Source: Chitramala

Starring Ranna Daggubati, Amitabh Bachchan and Sanjay Dutt, the movie had all the makings of a blockbuster with thrilling trailers and hard-hitting and brutal posters. However, the movie did not live up to its expectations with terrible direction and weirdest camera angles, and the story continuously losing a sense of its plot as it progressed.

14.   Zanjeer (2013)

Source: Rotten Tomatoes

A remake of 1973 classic Hindi movie with the same name, the movie tanked on the box office with scathing reviews from the critics and the audience alike, with Anumpa Chopra christening it a ‘sacrilege’. The movie’s box office collection was little over 13 crores. While the production cost was around 60 crores.

15.   Bhoomi (2017)

Source: The Financial Express

The movie was his first film after his jail term, however, Dutt’s comeback film failed to make a bang at the box office due to poor handling of the plot and seems overwrought with melodrama and cliched storyline showcased on screens many times before.

Despite all these flops, Dutt is still a household name in the industry. He has maintained his star stature in Bollywood despite all the setbacks and we are sure no one else can bounce back from the failure like our dear Khalnaya