Aamir Khan was the first Indian actor to set the Rs 100-crore benchmark at the box office with his film Ghajini. This was followed by Salman and Shah Rukh Khan. However, the film was hyped as Akshay Kumar’s first Rs 100-crore movie, turned out to be a huge disaster.
The film we are talking about also starred a newbie but star actress who got her first ever flop with this. The director didn’t have a hit for 7 years after this. It is Chandni Chowk To China.
Helmed by Nikkhil Advani, Chandani Chowk To China stars Akshay Kumar, and Deepika Padukone with Mithun Chakraborty, and Hong Kong action cinema actor Gordon Liu among the co-stars. The film was hyped as Akshay Kumar’s first Rs 100-crore film, however, it failed to even recover its budget. Made for Rs 65 crore, the film collected only Rs 29 crore in India and Rs 53 crore worldwide.
It was Warner Bros. Pictures' first Hindi film was distributed in the U.S. by them. It was the third Bollywood movie made and distributed in partnership with a major Hollywood studio, following Sony's Saawariya (2007) and Walt Disney Pictures' animated feature Roadside Romeo (2008).
In Nepal, there were protests against the film due to a passing claim that Buddha was born in India; Lumbini, which is the birthplace of Buddha, is located in Nepal. Several shows were canceled in Nepal due to the protests. Not only this, Nikkhil Advani recently revealed in an interview that after the film was released, a journalist came outside his house and reported, “This is the house of the director who has wasted your money, throw stones at him.” Nikkhil also revealed that it became one of the most-watched films despite its failure.
The end credits of the film contain a teaser for a sequel titled Chandni Chowk to Africa and a sequel was planned by Warner Bros India but did not materialize. The film was Deepika Padukone’s first-ever flop after giving two hits Om Shanti Om and Bachna Ae Haseeno.
However, Akshay Kumar has since then given several hits like Airlift, Bhool Bhulaiyaa, Housefull, Kesari, 2.0, Gold, Padman, Toilet Ek Prem Katha, and more. Deepika Padukone has also become a superstar with two Rs 1000 crore films, Jawan and Kalki 2898 AD. Both of them will now be seen sharing the screen in Rohit Shetty’s Singham Again which is set to release in theatres on November 1. The film also stars Kareena Kapoor Khan, Ajay Devgn, Ranveer Singh, Tiger Shroff, and Arjun Kapoor in key roles. It will be clashing with Kartik Aaryan’s Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3 on Diwali.
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