'Kalank', 'Zero' To 'Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham' Films That Were Rude Wake Up Calls For These Stars By Their Own Acceptance

How often does it happen that Bollywood celebrities who have invested their time and energy for a film criticize it after it fails to live upto their expectations? Well, the twisted answer to the question maybe that it happens now more than ever. Be it Kalank, Zero or even an audience favorite like Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham celebrities associated with these projects like Varun Dhawan, Shah Rukh Khan or even filmmaker Karan Johar are coming forward accepting that they failed to deliver a film that was good enough.

Accepting failure can be called a way to move forward to better things but the festering regrets that these films left surly indicate that their expectations from them were much bigger than even probably the audiences realize. Check out all the celebs who got a wake up call after these films in their filmographies happened.

Varun Dhawan: Kalank was one of the biggest disappointments of the year 2019. As much as fans of both Varun Dhawan and Alia Bhatt were looking forward to the drama, the film bored them to death to say the least. Varun, for who the film was his first flop in his career, wholeheartedly accepted the audience's verdict on the film and said to PTI, “The film wasn't liked by the audience. And it deserved not to do well. It is very clear if the audience likes a film it should do well and they did not like 'Kalank'. It is a learning for me. I have processed it and learnt what I had to from it “

Shah Rukh Khan: The SRK fans today eagerly await the announcement of his next film while the actor has been taking a break from movies for more than a year now after the disaster that his last film Zero was. The actor even walked of a project he had already signed to contemplate his next move and accepted at the Beijing Film Festival that Zero was potentially a wrong film to do. “Maybe I made the wrong film, maybe I did not do the right storytelling so I am a little wary how it will be received here and I hope people here will like it,” he told Chinese website CGTN.

Aamir Khan: The actor’s Thugs Of Hindostan was one of the biggest fails of the year 2018 and probably in his Bollywood career too. The actor went ahead and took full responsibility for the failure of the film and letting audiences down. In an interview with HT City the actor said, “I’ve always felt responsible for my work, but for the last 18-19 years, I didn’t have a film that didn’t do well, so that’s why people might have felt I was doing this for the first time. And especially because it was a much-awaited film; people had high expectations, so I was very sorry, hurt and upset that we went wrong. I felt emotionally that I should address it and apologise to people for not living up to the expectations.”

Katrina Kaif: The actress has done several Bollywood films that many would kill for. Katrina, however, had a rocky start in Bollywood with a B grad disaster like Boom. The actress who has given Rs. 200 crores blockbusters like Tiger Zinda Hai, accepted that she did the film without realizing the full repercussions of signing a film like Boom. In an interview, Katrina said, “When I signed the film, I was not aware about Indian culture and tradition. Had I known that aspect of India, I would not have done the film."

Karan Johar: Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham may enjoy a status of being a classic in the genre of family films in Bollywood but the filmmaker had much bigger expectations from the project. Karan on a recent podcast show revealed that he envisioned making “the biggest film in Hindi cinema since 'Mughal-e-Azam' until Aamir Khan's 'Lagaan' and Farhan Akhtar's 'Dil Chahta Hai”. The film instead went on to serve as a wake up call for him after it received bad reviews and didn’t do well at award shows. He called K3G the ‘single biggest slap in his face’ and his ‘biggest reality check’. "I took the storyline of Kabhi Kabhie and the family values of Hum Aapke Hain Koun..! and made this mush of a film." It may not have failed at the box office but sure became a turning point in Karan’s career.

Saif Ali Khan: Risk-taking and nailing each character he transforms into maybe a strong suit for Saif but sadly the strategy failed to work out with the comedy Humshakals. A big blotch on the filmographies of all the stars in the film, Saif was the only one who ever expressed his regret and said that he did the film thinking it would expand his market and instead it horribly wrong. In an interview, the actor said, "I did the film thinking that it will help me expand my market, but obviously that wasn't a clever idea." 

Ajay Devgn: Having done exactly 100 films in Bollywood so far one of the biggest stars of the industry Ajay Devgn certainly has two big regrets in his career. The actor recalled Rascals and Himmatwala being two films he wasn’t satisfied with. Both films were disasters and the actor said in an interview he hasn’t watched them, “80 percent of the times I have come to know while shooting that the film won’t work. I have not seen those films during the trial shows. I have not seen ‘Himmatwala’ and ‘Rascals’ till today. You get that feel.”

Govinda: The king of comedies in the 90’s Govinda became the baddie in Bollywood film Kill Dill in the fear of missing out. The film that also starred Ranveer Singh was a big disaster and Govinda himself was skeptical about playing the villain. Taking up the film due to lack of offers he explained, "My family told me to take up the offer, or I’ll be left behind” in an interview.

Shahid Kapoor: It might have been his recent film Kabir Singh that may have courted the most controversies but the actor certainly has no qualms about it. Instead, it is Shaandaar is one film the actor wishes to erase from his filmography. At a talk show on Zoom TV, the actor said, "I would erase Shaandaar from my career trajectory if I could. No one from this generation of actors can claim that a bad film did well just because they were in it. I think I have a very loyal fan following. And I thank them every day of my life. I have done some really crappy films."