Nevertheless, a few good films were released in the second half of the year and that helped ensure the year wasn't a complete disaster.
Success Stories
The year began with moderate successes in the form of Raaz 2 and Dev D with the latter redefining Bollywood and turning its hero, Abhay Deol, into contemporary cinema's most happening star. Slumdog Millionaire's dubbed Hindi version - Slumdog Crorepati - kept the box office busy until 2009's unfortunate first half. It was followed by the Katrina Kaif-John Abraham-Neil Nitin Mukesh starrer New York hitting the bull's eye, with a gripping tale of terrorism. The corny romantic-comedy Kambakkht Ishq, with Akshay Kumar and Kareena Kapoor in the lead, managed to have a successful run at the box office. Saif Ali Khan's first home production, Love Aaj Kal, which dealt with romantic relationships set in two different eras, opened to a phenomenal response with director Imtiaz Ali's deft touch and Pritam's great music. The film became the year's highest grossing flick. Shahid Kapur proved that he could pull off a serious role successfully in Vishal Bharadwaj's critically-acclaimed Kaminey. Priyanka Chopra's act as a fiery Marathi girl was also praised.
Salman Khan proved his star power hasn't waned as his action-packed Wanted became the year's biggest hit, proving that all he needs to do is show interest in his projects. Ranbir Kapoor's coming-of-age film Wake Up Sid also became a favourite across movie multiplexes. He later hit the jackpot with Ajab Prem Ki Ghazab Kahani along with Kaif.
Among the Diwali releases, only Ajay Devgn's All The Best worked out, primarily due to some brilliant performances. Priyadarshan's mediocre madcap comedy De Dana Dan, which showcased Kumar and Kaif, didn't do too well. Amitabh Bachchan surprised us with a superlative performance as a 13-year-old child in the moderately budgeted Paa.
Disasters
Warner Bros' heavily hyped Chandni Chowk To China, starring Kumar, set a downward trend in 2009. Kumar hit another low in the box office with 8X10 Tasveer. After Rang De Basanti, a lot was riding on director Rakeysh Mehra, who failed to charm audiences with Delhi-6. It was even termed a tad self-indulgent. Shah Rukh Khan's extended appearance with three item numbers wasn't enough to save his home production Billu from flopping. Imran Khan seems to be in need of some ‘luck' as his multi-starrer action flick Luck couldn't find any takers at the box office. The Bhatts (Mahesh and Mukesh) also seem to have run out of ideas since both their movies Jashnn and Tum Mile were a box office flop. Looks like it's time they came up with something really controversial to stay in the news. Ram Gopal Varma's horror flick Agyaat was not well-received and made us wonder why the talented film-maker took on this movie concept.
The so-called ‘underwater adventure' Blue, which was billed as India's most expensive film, turned out to be a dud despite the presence of Kumar, Sanjay Dutt and the scantily-clad Lara Dutta. Salman's good show with Wanted was followed by the disastrous Main Aur Mrs Khanna and London Dreams - although he gave a great performance in the latter. Saif Ali Khan and Kareena Kapoor's steamy romance in Kurbaan wasn't enough to draw the audience, who seemed to have had enough of stories based on terrorism.
Just before Paa was released, Amitabh disappointed us with a forgettable Genie act in Aladin. The well produced movie Rocket Singh, which starred Ranbir failed to create any impact, thanks to poor marketing by its producers (Yash Raj Films) whose earlier movie Dil Bole Hadippa starring Rani Mukherji also failed to cut ice. However, the year is expected to end on a high note as Aamir Khan's 3 Idiots is taking the audience by storm.
Main Controversies
• Kumar's "un-buttoning act", with his wife Twinkle Khanna playing along, at a fashion show irked moral activists in India.
• Ashutosh Gowariker's lame announcement at the IIFA Awards that he felt Aishwarya Rai Bachchan deserved the Best Actress Award for Jodhaa Akbar instead of Chopra for Fashion.
• A shocking rape accusation put Shiney Ahuja behind bars.
• Shah Rukh Khan was detained for two hours at Newark Airport in the US leading to cries of racial discrimination. It even created an uproar in the Indian Parliament.
• Karan Johar's apology to Marathi activists for using ‘Bombay' instead of ‘Mumbai' in his film Wake Up Sid. He also got into trouble for Kurbaan because of Kapoor's daring poster.
• The break-up of the high-profile couple - Ranbir Kapoor and Deepika Padukone. It even led to rumours that Kapoor's close friendship with Khan's girl Kaif caused the split.
5 Best films
• Kaminey
Cast: Priyanka Chopra, Shahid Kapur, Amole Gupte,
Director: Vishal Bharadwaj
• Rocket Singh
Cast: Ranbir Kapoor, Shazhan Padamsee, Prem Chopra, Gauhar Khan, Manish Choudhary
Director: Shimit Amin
• Dev D
Cast: Abhay Deol, Kalki, Mahie Gill
Director: Anurag Kashyap
• Wake Up Sid
Cast: Ranbir Kapoor, Katrina Kaif, Rahul Khanna
Director: Ayan Mukerji
• Luck By Chance
Cast: Farhan Akhtar, Konkona Sen Sharma, Rishi Kapoor, Dimple Kapadia, Juhi Chawla, Isha Sharwani
Director: Zoya Akhtar
