Flop block buster...CHANDNA ARORA , TNN 18 December 2009, 12:00am IST Text Size: | *Topics*:
- *Akshay Kumar*<http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/topics.cms?query=Akshay%20Kumar> - *Blue* <http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/topics.cms?query=blue> Actors have to work double these days. First, they have to shoot for the movie<http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/entertainment/bollywood/news-interviews/Flop-block-buster/articleshow/5348205.cms#> so that they’re present on screen. [image: Still from Blue]<javascript:openslideshownew('/slideshow/5348266.cms?imw=460','541','526')> <javascript:openslideshownew('/slideshow/5348266.cms?imw=460','541','526')> Still from Blue Twitter<http://twitterapps.indiatimes.com/feedtweet/tweet?link=http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/entertainment/bollywood/news-interviews/Flop-block-buster/articleshow/5348205.cms&title=Flop%20block%20buster...%20-%20News%20&%20Interviews%20-%20Bollywood%20-%20Entertainment%20-%20The%20Times%20of%20India> Facebook <javascript:addto(2);>Share <javascript:void(0)>Email<javascript:openWindowmail(%22/mail/5348205.cms%22)> Print<http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/msid-5348205,prtpage-1.cms> Save <javascript:showdivlayer(%225348205%22,%22b%22,%22close%22);>Comment<http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/entertainment/bollywood/news-interviews/Flop-block-buster/articleshow/5348205.cms#write> Then, they’ve to make their presence felt all over the country in promotional tours that are part of Bollywood’s marketing strategy for creating the ‘right buzz’ around films. But so many films’ve had oodles of the right buzz – and they were still flops! Obviously, the buzz passed them by. Khiladi loses the game Once upon a time, Akshay Kumar was the darling of the masses, guaranteeing a hit with his action-adventure brand of films. Then, he came to be known for the ‘big’ films, with over-the-top budgets and foreign locations and lots of bling. But his big films – Blue and Kambakkht Ishq – couldn’t make a big impact. Kambakkht Ishq was supposed to be the joint venture that couldn’t fail. With Sylvester ‘Rocky’ Stallone and Denise Richards lending it big ticket Hollywood glamour, and Akki and Kareena being among the Bollywood stars who can deliver hits with ease, KI was a foregone hit. It was certainly a hit in buzz circles – the film stills were eye candy enough, with Bebo looking unprecedentedly glam, Akki unprecedentedly macho, and Sly and Denise looking ... Hollywoody! It was the first B-town film to be shot in Hollywood’s Universal Studios. Sly was Akki’s bhai, his long-lost brother from a past life, the film<http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/entertainment/bollywood/news-interviews/Flop-block-buster/articleshow/5348205.cms#>’s hoardings were up in the US and Cannes, and there were kisses too – surefire buzz generators. Both Kareena and Denise certified to Akki’s prowess in that department. But the audience refused to say mwaah to the film, the critics panned it, and Bebo said the film’s failure broke her heart. Blue was to be Akshay and Sanjay Dutt’s return to the action genre, India’s first underwater film. It had beaches, big budgets – and most eye-catchingly – bikini babes. This one also had oodles of phoren glam – Kylie Minogue flew down to India to record and shoot an AR Rahman-composed song for it. It was much written about, but it wasn’t much watched, unfortunately. Most heart-breakingly, the thing that everyone thought was the biggest damp squib was the super-hot Kylie song. Akki, hit nahin pakki? It wasn’t a hit, dummy It’s a given that there’s usually more buzz surrounding Ram Gopal Varma than his films. But Ram Gopal Varma Ki Aag was supposed to be different – it was the Sholay remake, the one that was supposed to re-cast the mould. Moudly is more like it – the seats in the halls, we mean. But Ramu, with characteristic candour, accepted multiple times that Aag was one of his biggest mistakes. That didn’t help Agyaat, though, which went up in smoke. Ramu tried, though. In a dummy run, Ramu had dummies of what looked like a dead body hung in various places in the Mumbai suburbs. They shocked passersby and even led to police complaints about motorists being distracted. Of course, a thing like that could not but be written about. But after the release, the audience remained Agyaat to only one thing: why was the film ever made? Cut short Billu Barber was an SRK film, and SRK’s usually spelt g-r-a-n-d, sometimes also b-o-r-n b-u-z-z-y. It was a Priyadarshan film – it seems no one tires of trying to recreate the Hera Pheri magic, no matter how many times it fails. It had Irrfan Khan, a talented actor. It had SRK, playing a superstar, no less – couldn’t be a bad performance, very true to life, no! It had a bevy of top leading ladies sizzling in item number after item number with Badshah Khan. Of course, everyone thought it was a default hit. Musta been the fault of the barber’s association (which got the film’s name changed) that it flopped. An SRK film called Billu? No Badshah, no Rahul? Doomed, we tell you! -- - Regards ~ ~ A.R.Rajib ~ ~
