7 Amazing Bollywood Movies that flopped on Box Office

As they say “Don’t judge a book by its’ cover”, something similar can be said for Bollywood movies. Success of a Bollywood movie is decided by the ‘crore’ mark it reaches! But you would be surprised to see that a lot of cult Bollywood movies that dazzled us by their brilliance failed miserably on box office. Here is a list of 10 such Bollywood movies which actually were flops at the time they were released, but gradually won the hearts of the audiences with their magic and charm.

List of Bollywood Movies that failed on Box Office

1. Mera Naam Joker (1970)

This legendary movie was a commercial disaster for Raj Kapoor considering the fact that it took almost 6 years to be made, putting him in a financial crisis. This movie is one of the most lengthy films of Indian cinema and is said to be loosely inspired from Kapoor’s life. Regardless of these factors, it failed miserably at first but today is considered to be a classic today. Every song of the movie is still candy for our years. This movie is commonly called a ‘misunderstood masterpiece’.

2. Jaane Bhi Do Yaaron(1983)

This movie is ranked among the ‘Top 25 Must See Bollywood Films’ by ‘Indiatimes Movies’. A satire on rampant corruption everywhere, this movie was a lot to take for the audiences in the 80’s. As a result, a brilliant movie like Jaane Bhi Do Yaaron turned out to be a flop. Another reason was that the team didn’t have enough funds for promotion. The movie was re-released in a digitally restored print in 2012 and got an enthusiastic response. Kundan Shah won 1984’s  ‘Indira Gandhi Award for Best First Film of a Director’ for his work.

P.S-This is also one of my personal favorites in comedy!

3. Agneepath (1990)

First made in 1990 with Amitabh Bachchan playing the main protagonist Vijay Deenanath Chauhan along with Mithun Chakraborty, Madhavi, and Danny as Kancha, the villain bombed at the box office. Not only that, critics were not at all happy with this movie! The fact that it was remade again in 2012 with Hrithik Roshan, Priyanka Chopra, Rishi Kapoor and Sanjay Dutt says enough about the class of the movie. Amitabh and Mithun both bagged the National award for Best Actor and Filmfare Best Supporting Actor respectively for the original Agneepath.

4. Lamhe (1991)

Directed by Yash Chopra( who called Lamhe his personal favorite), written by Honey Irani, this movie was certainly a lot ahead of its time. This movie portrayed love between a young girl, played by Sridevi and an older man, Anil Kapoor. Both of them gave one of their best performances along with Anupam Kher’s. The film was a hit in UK but was not accepted well in India because of the hard-to-digest love story. But with time, the audience’s mind broadened and now Lamhe is considered one of the must-watch Bollywood flicks.

5. Maqbool(2003)

Vishal Bhardwaj did a great job in the Indian adaptation of Shakespeare’s Macbeth, but alas! the audience did not feel the same way. Maybe it was because of our crazy mindsets to see a happy ending always. But the movie was internationally well acclaimed. Once you get used to the darkness of the movie, it will entice you. Pankaj Kapoor went on to win a Filmfare Award for Best Actor (Critics) and a National Film Award for Best Supporting Actor. 

6. Rocket Singh: Salesman of the year (2009)

A great movie with an amazing storyline, yet it failed to leave a mark in box-office primarily due to lack of promotion or wrong promotion. This movie was an inspiration for entrepreneurs years before entrepreneurship was a trend in India. Ranbir Kapoor, playing a Sikh in the movie who was considered a loser by all, gave a heart-warming performance and even won a Filmfare for it.

7. Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye! (2009)

This offbeat black comedy film is considered to one of the finest works of Dibakar Banerjee. But it did not get the expected response from the audience, even though this film has a huge cult following among youngsters, but it only happened with time. With great performers like Abhay Deol, Richa Chadha and Paresh Rawal, this movie certainly deserved a better treatment. Though it won a National Award for Best Popular Film.

It hurts to see that such great movies did not get the response they deserved, but seeing how they are feverishly followed by people all over the world gives a little peace to mind. Thanks to the changing times!