Filmmaker Aanand L Rai and writer Himanshu began their careers in the industry with a dud. The remake of the cult Hollywood film Strangers, starring Jimmy Shergill and K K Menon, was a financial failure. However, then they made a strong comeback with Tanu Weds Manu followed by Raanjhanaa and Tanu Weds Manu Returns and hence delivered a hattrick of huge hits.
But then they both collaborated on a huge project titled Zero starring all the biggies like Shah Rukh Khan, Katrina Kaif and Anushka Sharma. But it was disappointing as it became a box office failure. Later came Akshay Kumar, Dhanush and Sara Ali Khan starrer Atrangi Re, which got mixed reviews though the OTT release saved their skin and perception.
Now Akshay Kumar starrer Raksha Bandhan too failed to cross even 50 cr nett at the domestic box office which is shocking.
So let’s take a look at the problematic areas of the films that failed to impress:
1. Zero goes to the USA rather than sticking to their fav North Indian (UP-Haryana-Punjabi settings) flavour.
2. Their leading women always were sparkling Zoya, Tanu or Datto but Raksha Bandhan had women as a prop (bechari) and regressively written characters (surely they have justifications and strong opinions on this sentence, expect them to strike back but truth has to be said in times of paid PR).
3. A R Rahman gave one of his best works in Raanjhanaa and Atrangi Re but suddenly dated Himesh Reshammiya’s music just because the film has a family drama setting.
4. Himanshu Sharma (probably one of the best dialogue writers of our time) is trying to reinvent by going to different zones leaving his proven flavour – why fix something if it isn’t broken?
5. Above all Aanand L Rai tried to make bigger massive films with bigger stars and has fallen as was the case with Anurag Kashyap and Imtiaz Ali.
We badly want them back and wish them all the luck with the next announcement which should come soon!
Box office stats:
Strangers
76 lac nett domestic, 79 k footfalls
Tanu Weds Manu
48 cr nett domestic, 50 lac footfalls
Raanjhana
71 cr nett domestic, 74 lac footfalls
Tanu Weds Manu Returns
148 cr nett domestic, 1.50 cr footfalls
Zero
88 cr nett domestic, 68 lac footfalls
Raksha Bandhan
47 cr nett domestic, 23 lac footfalls
(Atrangi Re direct to OTT so no reliable data)
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