14 Big Budgeted Bollywood Movies That Bombed Because Of IPL

Do you know why the cash rich Indian Premiere League was believed to be a curse for Bollywood movies for a long time? Cause in its inaugural year when producers didn’t mind releasing their movies alongside those entertaining cricket matches, little did they know it was going to cost them big. Major biggies clashing with the IPL bombed week after week and the tournament became an overnight threat to the business of cinema.

Next year onwards, most producers refrained from releasing their movies in the month of April and May for IPL dominated the TV viewership bigtime. However, trends started changing from 2010 when a biggie like Housefull stood against the odds and became a super hit. The success of the movie did encourage a lot of producers/distributors to take on IPL and since then it has been a real contest between cricket and movies.

While in our previous chapter we brought you the movies that took on the IPL and became hits, today we discuss 14 big budgeted Bollywood movies that perhaps succumbed to the IPL bonanza:

Fan

While the SRK starrer biggie had its reasons to flop at box office, the fact that it released in just the second week of IPL can’t be overlooked. Released on April 15^th last year, the massively hyped Yash Raj production couldn’t even touch the 90 crore mark at box office.

Azhar

While the cricket based movie was taking on the cricketing tournament, it perhaps didn’t choose the right space to come out. While the film had its share of flaws, IPL’s later stages proved to be a big dent as well.

Detective Byomkesh Bakshi

The supremely fancy thriller outing directed by Dibaker Bannerjee couldn’t get going at all since it released just five days before IPL was to start. While the film got positive reviews from all over, it couldn’t translate that to numbers.

Bombay Velvet

Towards the tail end of IPL 2015 when the tournament was at its peak, there came the biggest disaster Bollywood was to see in years. The mega budgeted Anurag Kashyap directorial that also starred Ranbir Kapoor, Karan Johar and Anushka Sharma tanked at the counters. IPL was entering its play offs, we’re just saying!

Ek Thi Daayan

The Emraan Hashmi led horror flick that saw the likes of Kalki, Huma Qureshi and the gorgeous Konkana Sen Sharma play crucial roles had a difficult outing at box office. The film had released when IPL had started gaining momentum that year and audiences were not to be found in theaters.

Go Goa Gone

Another moderately budgeted yet anticipated movie that found the rough side of taking on IPL was this Zombie comedy. The film was a box office letdown and IPL’s schedule may have played a factor in the film not picking up at all.

Game

Alright, this genius of a movie released on April 1^st 2011! That’s two days before India was going to play the World Cup final and a week before IPL was to take off. While we admire Excel Entertainment for having taken this courageous decision, we only have question marks against their wisdom though! Made an April fool of themselves.

Thank You

This big ticket comedy comprising a stellar cast led by Akshay Kumar released on the same day IPL was to start. While it bombed bigtime at the ticket counters, it further instilled fear in the minds of big producers to not release their films during IPL.

Dum Maaro Dum

Just two weeks after Thank You suffered to the IPL craze countrywide, this Abhishek Bachchan starrer came out to test waters but unfortunately failed. While the Rohan Sippy directorial wasn’t entirely accepted by the viewers, the release slot wasn’t of any help either.

Paathshaala

The reasonably cute school drama set around our education system back in 2010 had to suffer the consequences of choosing a ‘not so wise’ time for release. While the film was a colossal disappointment at box office, we wonder if things had panned out better if it released a month before.

8X10 Tasveer

When Akshay Kumar decided to attempt something different, it was as if the world came together to not make it work for him. First the multiplex owners had a fall out with distributors, the makers then decided to release the movie during IPL. The rest they say is history.

Krazzy 4

The year when Bollywood didn’t know how IPL was going to majorly dent box office, producers released their movies week after week only to meet a disastrous fate. Rakesh Roshan’s Krazzy 4 was just one of those bombshells.

U Me Aur Hum

The debut Ajay Devgn directorial that also starred Kajol had most things going in its favor. The film was well executed, had good music and did not have any major competition at box office either. However, releasing during the opening season of IPL was enough to sink the ship.

Tashan

Like terrible story, poor performances and lacklusture direction wasn’t enough, the makers decided to release it during IPL. While Tashan was inherently a disaster of a movie, releasing during IPL was like the final nail in the coffin.

It’s a tough pick this – Movies over Cricket or Cricket over Movies!