The Year 2002 provided no respite from flops for Bollywood with a large number of films bombing at the box-office. Only, a handful succeeded in keeping the cash registers ringing.
Bollywood may be the biggest producer of films in the world but the ratio of hits to flop movies in 2002 is too skewed. Arguably one of the worst years in the history of the talkie (with gross losses totaling Rs. 290 crore), 2002 saw the release of 132 films out of which 124 bit the dust at the marquee.
There was a glimmer of hope in the beginning of the year with the release of Sanjay Bhansali’s saga of timeless love and emotional anguish, Devdas. The film, with the attractive star cast of Shahrukh Khan, Aishwarya, Madhuri Dixit and Jackie Shroff, had movie buffs flocking to the theatres in droves.
There were great expectations on actor Anupam Kher’s directorial debut Om Jai Jagdish which starred Anil Kapoor, Abhishek Bachchan, Fardeen and Mahima Chowdhary in the leading roles. Sadly, the movie turned out to be a damp squib at the box-office.
A similar fate befell Hrithik-Rani starrer Mujhse Dosti Karoge which was based on an oft-repeated storyline replete with clichés and mushy romance. Similarly, Kareena and Tusshar Kapoor were unable to recreate the magic of their earlier hit Mujhe Kuch Kehna Hai in their second film together, Jeena Sirf Merre Liye.
However, a fairly good run was enjoyed by Ramgopal Varma’s underworld saga ‘Company’ that introduced Vivek Oberoi in a stellar role. The film won critical acclaim for its realistic depiction of underworld crime and power-packed acting performances from Ajay Devgan and South Indian actor Mohan Lal.
One movie that hogged the headlines in 2002 was Manisha Koirala’s Ek Chhotisi Love Story . But it was more on account of the controversy over the depiction of nudity in some scenes in the film.
Two of the industry’s best flicks – Kaante and Saathiya – came out at the fag end of the year.
Sanjay Gupta’s Kaante is attracting crowds because of its gripping subject, attractive star-cast and Hollywood-style presentation. The movie, shot entirely in Los Angeles, is the story of a gang of bank robbers (Amitabh Bachchan, Sanjay Dutt, Mahesh Manjrekar, Sunil Shetty, Lucky Ali and Kumar Gaurav) who try to pull off a grand heist.
Kaante seems to have broken Bollywood’s spell of flops as the movie is raking it in at the box-office not only throughout India but also in US, UK and Canada.
On the other hand, Vivek Oberoi-Rani Mukherji’s Saathiya, Hindi remake of Tamil hit Alai Payuthe, has been a slow starter collecting a marginal 55 lakh in the first week of its release.
The Year 2002 provided no respite from flops for Bollywood with a large number of films bombing at the box-office. Only, a handful succeeded in keeping the cash registers ringing.