5 Biopics That Failed To Impress

You can always call out on Bollywood for churning out too many biopics of late, but you can’t disagree that they work. Biopic as a formula is full proof. It has a story that is real, humane, have an audience connect and thus is profitable to work with. In the hands of a good director and sincere effort from the actors we have seen what magic biopics can wield in films such as Dangal , Bhaag Milkha Bhaag ’ or even M.S. Dhoni . But it is also often a tricky thing to deal. Keeping the balance between reel and real is something only a few can achieve. Here are 5 Bollywood biopics that failed to strike that balance and failed to impress us.

Daddy

To give credit where it is due, Daddy wasn’t a particularly bad film. However, its only when you realize that it is a biopic one of the most colourful personalities of Mumbai underworld, you can’t help but notice the shortcomings. The attention that was given to re-create the feel of the era in which Gawli operated was beautifully detailed, but we just wish that half of that attention was given to the story and character arc and the metamorphosis of Arun Gawli from a chawl dweller to one of the most formidable powers in Mumbai.

Mangal Pandey : The Rising

The expectation from this movie was huge.  But can you blame us for having expectations? It was a venture that was supposed to be bring together a compelling tale of a fierce personality, have Aamir Khan portray it and Ketan Mehta directing it. It was supposed to be an epic. But instead it was a half-baked attempt at storytelling and direction coupled with one of the best actors of our times, Aamir Khan hamming all the way. You know it is a doomed project when even A.R. Rahman’s music can’t save it.

Sarbjit

This movie is a proof that sometimes even best performances can’t help a movie. It is hard to pin-point that what exactly went wrong with this one, but apart from a few scenes the movie didn’t manage to make us move, which is surprising given the story of Sarbjit Singh is powerful enough to move mountains. It was perhaps the over dramatisation and a good dose of melodrama that played the villain for the movie

Azhar

Now this one is a biopic that we can clearly call disappointing. Most of the biopics heavily lean towards flattery, but Azhar take that a notch higher. Even Emraan Hashmi ’s sincere efforts did nothing to save the sloppy writing and direction. Facts were manipulated and even the flattery was half-hearted. Even after his tainted reputation, one of India’s most celebrated cricketer ever deserved a better treatment.

Haseena Parkar

Haseena Parkar could definitely run for a spot on the so-bad-that-its-good list. Where do I even begin? Let’s just keep story and direction aside and talk about the magic of nature that is Shradhha Kapoor in this movie. The poor thing was made to believe that all she needed to portray this formidable woman’s character was to oddly stuff her mouth with padding, try emulate Marlon Brando from Godfather and speak in a bizarrely slow pace to sound determined.