By Amreena Khan/Thaakat Foundation
Since big budget is the mantra for success nowadays, let us have a look at the Bollywood biggies whose budgets have touched the skies!
10. Jodhaa Akbar – Ashutosh Gowariker’s gargantuan epic based on Mughal emperor Akbar’s life and his relationship with his Hindu wife Jodhaabai costed about 40 crores. Elaborate sets, huge war scenes and Hrithik Roshan and Aishwarya Rai as stars push the budget upwards.
9. Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham – Karan Johar’s multi star studded film had Amitabh Bachchan, Jaya Bachchan, SRK, Kajol, Hrithik Roshan and Kareena Kapoor. The film was shot in the US and UK, apart from India, and with designer wear and huge sets, it was one of the most expensive movies made during its time. It had a budget of about 42 crores.
8. Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna – Karan Johar again, this time minus Kareena, Hrithik, Kajol but including Rani Mukherji, Abhishek Bachchan and Priety Zinta made the whole of his movie in his favourite location, Manhattan, in New York. Thus, the budget was bound to shoot up just like the New York skyscrapers, to about 44 crores. Though the film did not much on the lines of a story, but it did have a good music score, always a presence in a Karan Johar movie.
7. Om Shanti Om – Farah Khan’s comical and over-the-top take on Bollywood was a colorful extravaganza filled with technical mastery. With SRK and Deepika in lead roles, the film was famous for its songs (the one with 31 stars from the film industry) and its reincarnation theme. It cost about 45 crores, out of which a large chunk must have surely been allotted to the publicity campaign, which was highly extensive.
6. Singh is Kinng – Vipul Shah’s comedy flick involving a happy go lucky sardar was shot entirely at foreign locations, with only some reverts to India. The hit jodi of Katrina Kaif and Akshay Kumar spelled magic at the box office. Snoop Dogg also sung a song for the film, which costed about 50 crores.
5. Krrish – Rakesh Roshan’s sequel to Koi Mil Gaya was replete with stunts and special effects. The film also involved a lot of foreign shoots and was packaged by special effects people brought in from Hollywood. This Hrithik Roshan and Priyanka Chopra starrer cost about 50 crores.
4. The Hero: Love Story of a Spy -This Anil Sharma film had Priyanka Chopra, Preity Zinta, and Sunny Deol was the most expensive film of its time. It did quite a decent amount of business, given the performances and the plot was nothing to brag about. It cost about 55 crores
3. Kambakht Ishq – Mind-numbing storyline (or the lack of it), below the belt jokes, Hollywood stars with no roles to play but eye candy, and vulgar show of skin characterized this movie. But the shooting was in exotic locales and the start studded cast and the hugely extensive (and forceful) publicity campaign ensured that the budget touched 60 crores.
2. Ghajini – Aamir Khan’s remake of the smash South Indian movie made huge profits for him, raking in about 180 crores in revenue. The movie itself is a really bad remake of the awesomely made Memento. The movie cost about 65 crores, which will surely include the nationwide PR programme, which also involved some bizarre concepts like giving the signature Ghajini haircut outside theaters and the war of words between SRK and Aamir.
1. Love Story 2050 – Yes, ladies and gentlemen, we are finally at No. 1. Harry Baweja’s launch vehicle for his son Harman, was packed with blue sets, special effects and a robot called QT (who proved to be a better actor than Harman). We saw him dance (Harman that is), we saw him trying to act and we saw Priyanka Chopra in red hair. The film promised to be a sci-fi extravaganza but turned out to be a damp squid. But it cost daddy Harry a whopping 80 crores.
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Whenever I log into Facebook, there seems to be a new status about Aamir Khan. He is currently in Chicago shooting Dhoom 3 so there are statuses about recruiting friends to join the hunt to find him on the movie set, statuses expressing amazement at finally seeing him, getting a picture with him, touching him.
I was getting ready to write my articles this morning when one of my buddies rushed into the room and said, “Yo, did you know Pakistan held it’s first ever fashion week?”
