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14 of 2014: Bad films, good money

Some of the most panned films of the year had the last laugh at the box office

Box Office Collections: Rs 64 crore

Humshakals: Saif Ali Khan, Riteish Deshmukh, Ram Kapoor, Tamannaah Bhatia, Bipasha Basu, Esha Gupta

Hum pagal nahin hai bhaiya, hamara dimag kharab hai. These lines could well apply to the three lunatics in the film, and moviegoers who sat through its entire runtime probably exited theatres marveling at how well they fought this Sajid Khan-directed torture. Bagging some of the nastiest reviews of the year, Humshakals featured actors Saif, Riteish and Ram in triple roles in an attempt to triple the fun quotient but managing only to multiply the flak hurled its way by critics from every possible direction.

Box Office Collections: Rs 185 crore

Bang Bang: Hrithik Roshan and Katrina Kaif
Bang Bang happens when Bollywood fails to “copy,” and we are not even saying a remake because then it would mean “hard work” to interpret another movie, adjust it to the cultural standards of the people it is being remade for, etc. Hrithik and Katrina with this movie became classic examples of only style, no substance. Maybe since Hrithik can dance like a dream and fight like a master and Ms Kaif’s accented Hindi is still aww-worthy, the movie managed to make the box office happy.

Box Office Collections: Rs 205 crore

Happy New Year: Shah Rukh Khan, Deepika Padukone, Abhishek Bachchan, Boman Irani, Sonu Sood, Vivaan Shah
Farah Khan has shown that she can take the flimsiest of plots and turn them into feel-good entertainers. HNY was also the perfect example of how one could
simply shoot a script in the face and then choose merely to focus on Shah Rukh’s bare chest to earn big bucks at the box office. As goes Neha Dhupia’s most quoted quote, nothing sells like SRK in India.

Box Office Collections: Rs 40 crore

Yaariyan: Himansh Kohli, Rakul Preet Singh
The only thing really quintessential about this quintessential teen romance by debutant director Divya Khosla Kumar seems to have been the cliches it exploited to their full potential by the end of its runtime. Nevertheless, its earnings had its makers laughing all the way to the bank.

Box Office Collections: Rs 47 crore

Ragini MMS 2: Sunny Leone, Parvin Dabas
Throwing Sunny Leone into a movie worked. The flick came with plenty of steamy scenes, inserted in a bid to liven up a perfectly predictable, bordering on boring fare. But it worked!

Box Office Collections: Rs 55 crore

Heropanti: Tiger Shroff, Kriti Sanon
This flick was summed up by reviewers as a talent showcase for Jackie Shroff’s not-so-little boy. It was packed with Bollywood masala to ensure the Tiger roared at the box office.

Box Office Collections: Rs 112 crore

Holiday: Akshay Kumar, Sonakshi Sinha
For reviewers, the movie had absolutely nothing new to offer besides larger than life action sequences interspersed with some song-and-dance randomness. It really is a smug member of this year’s Rs 100-crore club.

Box Office Collections: Rs 105 crore

Ek Villain: Siddharth Malhotra, Shraddha Kapoor, Riteish Deshmukh
This was split opinion. But all those songs and and ghastly murders paid off in the end with the movie becoming 2014’s surprise hit.

Box Office Collections: Rs 77 crore

Humpty Sharma Ki Dulhaniya:Varun Dhawan, Alia Bhatt
Despite a following, film reviewers saw in this rom-com what the title already hinted at: it is DDLJ for the young who may not have seen the original. But too many references to the SRK-Kajol flick made this film seem somewhat stuck in an unfortunate time warp. However, the low budget blessed it with awesome profits.

Box Office Collections: Rs 75 crore

Entertainment: Akshay Kumar and Tamannaah Bhatia,
Sajid-Farhad decided to have a creature in their movie too but instead of an unpleasant chhipkali, we saw a cute dog. Though the movie got mixed responses from the public for being dull and loud, Akki received much appreciation for being in his full throttle form. Without bothering too much about the plot, Tamannaah’s lack of talent, Johnny Lever’s repetitive avatar, the film proved a crowd-puller.

Box Office Collections: Rs 27 crore

Creature 3D: Bipasha Basu and Imran Abbas Naqvi
Let’s just face it; Bollywood still has to get a hang of horror. Starring alongside Bipasha was a scaly, long-tailed, low-budget, lizard-type thingy with green eyes and a loud growl. No it’s not a Saajid Khan cameo. It’s called ‘brahmarakshas’. Do we really need to say more? But incredibly, the shoestring budget of the film made excellent profits at the BO.

Box Office Collections: Rs 230 crore

Kick Salman Khan, Jacqueline Fernandez
Sallu bhai has a mega fan base, which is extremely loyal even if he rides a bicycle wearing a mask. Kick was logic-free, uber silly with a weak plot and had weaker execution. But the story about an enfant terrible Devi, who’s a raging alcoholic and gets into fights at the drop of a hat — all because it gives him a kick, was 2014’s single biggest blockbuster. What can we say, Salman sabke dil mein aate hain, samajh mein nahin!

Box Office Collections: Rs 140 crore

Singham Returns: Ajay Devgn, Kareena Kapoor
Singham Returns was exactly like Singham, but with a bit more — like Kareena Kapoor’s acting and character development. With shrill dialoguebaazi, eardrum-shattering music along with added layers of social commentary, moral science, women’s empowerment slogans and existential angst, Devgn made critics cringe and the box office smile.

Box Office Collections: Rs 76.55 crore

Gunday: Priyanka Chopra, Ranveer Singh and Arjun Kapoor
Rated as a botched attempt at recreating a 70’s backdrop and a movie with a mash-up storyline of many popular movies, director Ali Abbas Zafar tried his hand at showing a time period when heroes, even if they were criminals, were honourable men. But we have a strong feeling that it was the ripped guys with well-oiled chests taking their shirts off who were the crowd magnets.

( Source : dc )
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