Akshay Kumar is one of the most successful actors in the history of Hindi cinema. The actor has churned hit after hit for the past two decades establishing himself as a force at the box office. He has also been extremely prolific when it comes to his filmography, often doing 4-5 films each year. While that has helped him increase his hit count, it has also resulted in a number of films that have not quite hit the mark. And his very worst film – both critically and commercially – caused irreparable harm to the director.
Akshay Kumar’s worst film
The 2012 release Joker, directed by Shirish Kunder, has the unwanted distinction of being the lowest-rated film in Akshay Kumar’s filmography. The film has a rather low IMDb rating of 2.4 out of 10. In fact, on the review aggregator site Rotten Tomatoes, Joker’s score is 0%, implying there are no positive reviews from any critic, a rarity for any film. The film, which also starred Sonakshi Sinha, Shreyas Talpade, and Minissha Lamba, was a sci-fi comedy made on an extravagant budget of Rs 47 crore. It was widely expected to do well given that Akshay was in a good phase (having given hits like Rowdy Rathore and Housefull 2 just months before this. But that did not come to pass.
Joker’s box office performance
The film getting panned by critics led to a negative word of mouth. This, combined with an underwhelming opening day at the box office, meant that the film sank right after the opening weekend. By the end of its run, Joker made only Rs 35 crore at the box office, a far cry from the Rs 180-200 crore Akshay’s previous two films had earned. The actor did bounce back with the success of OMG just a month later. However, for Shirish Kunder, the film’s failure meant it was his last theatrical release. In the 12 years since, Shirish has only made one more film – the 2020 Netflix release Mrs Serial Killer, which starred Jacqueline Fernandez and Manoj Bajpayee.
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