Akshay Kumar had a flop-infested 2009 despite having the chance to star in the most hyped and highest budgeted movies in the history of Bollywood itself. 8*10 Tasveer, Chandni Chowk to China, Kambakkht Ishq and Blue were trumpeted around prior to their respective release dates. Each one had new premises, cutting edge technical brilliance, exotic locales, Hollywood connections and astronomical budgets to boast of. The combined budget of these movies equals the total budget of some nations. Now that may have been a bit of an exaggeration. But Rs. 3 billion isn’t too less a sum to dismiss off and the movies didn’t deliver as expected.

8*10 Tasveer could have opened up Bollywood to the sci-fi meets fantasy meets superhuman genre. But we saw the movie crashing down initiating Akshay Kumar’s year of flops. He followed it up with the Warner Bros movie Chandni Chowk to China, a movie which Kumar even referred to as one which was inspired by his life. The stunt choreography was in the league of Chinese action movies, but the martial arts actioner was panned universally for poor acting and screenplay. Kumar found some relief in Kambakkht Ishq, an all nonsense movie which claimed to be a romantic action comedy which pitted guys against girls. It did have a bumper opening and ended its run with substantial total collections. That wasn’t reason to cheer about as Kambakkht Ishq had a huge budget and the collections were barely enough to call it a below average performer. Then came the most expensive and most talked about movie of the year – Blue. Hollywood stunt technicians, Bahamas, underwater cinematography, sharks, babes – it had everything that would make a Hollywood summer blockbuster nervous. But that wasn’t enough to salvage it from sinking under the weight of its budget and the pitiable quality of dialogues, acting and direction made it a disaster that will always be remembered.

Akhsay Kumar breathed easy at the end of the year with Priyadarshan’s comedy, De Dana Dan. Teaming up with the Hera Pheri gang of Paresh Rawal and Suniel Shetty, the movie featured his lucky mascot Katrina Kaif. The equation did work and helped Akshay wind up the year with some pride.

But, that doesn’t save him from being crucified along with the crown of thorns that we present to the King of Flops. So we present to you the King of Flops of 2009 – his Highness, Akshay Kumar.

- Sanjoy Alexander is a contributing writer to a leading Indian magazine. He is an avid blogger who blogs on movies, cars and photography at http://reelsandwheels.blogspot.com.    This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it