India's biggest flop put entire Bollywood in debt, lesbian love song caused controversy, director had to quit films

Indian film industries have been known for their grand historical epics. From the days of Nausherwan-e-Adil to Jodhaa Akbar in the recent years, Hindi cinema has been at the forefront of making big-budget spectacles on historical figures. But there have been a few failures as well, films that have not resonated with the audiences and failed to be hits. This is the story of one such failure, which ended up bringing the entire industry down with it.

India’s biggest flop film...

Kamal Amrohi was known for his penchant for making big films. After his magnum opus Pakeezah, the filmmaker was looking for something grander to top it up. He found it in a biopic of medieval Delhi ruler Razia Sultana, the only woman to sit on the throne of Delhi. The end result was Razia Sultan starring Hema Malini and Dharmendra, a film that released in 1983 after an eight-year-long production. Made on a budget of Rs 10 crore, it was the most expensive Indian film made at that point. However, the film was a colossal failure, earning only Rs 2 crore worldwide. The chaste Urdu language was criticised, as it alienated a lot of viewers. The film also notoriously contained the hint of same-sex romance, a bit ahead of its times. That controversy is also said to have turned away family audiences.

How Razia Sultan put all of Bollywood in debt

Kamal Amrohi had borrowed heavily to make Razia Sultan. Many trade insiders had their money riding on this ambitious film. When it tanked, many financiers, distributors, and other investors facced heavy losses. The scale of the film meant that a substantial portion of the film industry suffered. A trade magazine at the time ran an article claiming that the film’s box office failure put the film industry into debt. But Kamal Amrohi countered it saying that any losses would be his, not the producers. Amrohi even said that since the film was made over eight years, he had provided jobs to hundreds.

Why Kamal Amrohi never made another film after Razia Sultan

Till his final days, Kamal Amrohi maintained that Razia Sultan was not a flop but a misunderstood film. But the film affected him financially. Amrohi took an extended break after the film before he began working on a film called Aakhri Mughal, reportedly a biopic of Bahadur Shah Zafar. However, the script was lost after his death in 1993. And thus, Razia Sultan remained Amrohi’s final film.

The DNA app is now available for download on the Google Play Store. Please download the app and share your feedback with us.