Khan War: Salman v/s SRK in 2008

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Abdul Rahman Ansari

@ar78655

Rocker

Posted: 16 years ago

Khan War: Salman v/s SRK in 2008

2008 has been a big year for SRK. He has made a clean sweep with just one master stroke, Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi. Sadly, we can't say the same thing for his bette noir Salman Khan, who has had a very unsuccessful year.

Salman Khan has had four releases this year. Before his movie could releae, he and SRK made headlines with their fight at Katrina Kaif's birthday party. The two have not spoken since and Bollywood is divided between the two camps.

God Tussi Great Ho released with Bachna Ae Haseeno on August 15. The remake of Bruce Almighty had an impressive cast comprising Amitabh Bachchan, Salman Khan and Priyanka Chopra and was directed by writer Rumi Jaffery. The film was shot before the Abhi-Ash affair, which is why the two of them shared screen space. None of the actors promoted the dated film when it released. The film was replete with special effects and peppy music but neither the pairing of Priyanka and Salman nor the face off between Salman and Amitabh Bachchan made the film a hit with audiences. 1 flop, 3 to go.

Hello released on 10 October. Based on Chetan Bhagat's best selling novel, One Night at the Call Centre, the film had Sohail Khan, Eesha Koppikhar, Sharman Joshi, Amrita Arora and Gul Panag as its main cast. Salman Khan and Katrina Kaif were thrown in to cash in on their star power. The movie opened with Salman Khan's song Bang Bang and Katrina soon entered as the storytelling Angel but neither their chemistry nor the film worked. Lucky mascot Katrina didn't prove lucky for them. People had already seen Salman's shirtless song on TV so they didn't feel like trekking to the theatre. 2 flops, 2 to go!

Multistarrer Heroes released on October 24 and the makers hoped it would draw in the crowds because of the ongoing Diwali vacations. Truth be told, Heroes was a decent and touching film with some very fine and nuanced performances from Preity Zinta and Salman Khan while Bobby and Sunny energized the screen with their presence. It is the best film that director Sameer Karnik has made (he has made debacles like Nanhe Jaisalmer and Kyun Ho Gaya Na before). Sadly, the film wasn't marketed well and nobody showed interest in this patriotic saga so it sank at the BO. 3 flops and 1 to go!

Magnum opus Yuvvraaj had expectations riding sky high when it released on November 21 because it was a Subhash Ghai musical that teamed Salman and Katrina as on screen lovers for the first time (Kat didn't end up with Salman in Maine Pyar Kyun Kiya). It was basically a lavish musical film. Katrina already had two hits in her kitty with Race and Singh is Kinng but Subhash Ghai's last hit was Pardes in 1998 and Salman hadn't had a hit since 2007's Partner. Barring the music, nothing about the film was right. It was a waste of talent. Salman was playing himself in the film and made a fool of himself when he cried on screen. The well promoted film suffered heart breaking losses. We feel really bad for Salman who was really counting on the film to end his year on a hit note. But, alas! It is 4 flops down and nowhere to go for Salman in 2008.

Shah Rukh Khan must be smiling all the way because all of Salman's movies have flopped. He had one release: Aditya Chopra's Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi and one responsibility: to make it a hit and salvage the YRF banner which didn't have a hit film since Chak De in August 2007. SRK's sheer presence, performance and chemistry with talented newbie Anushka salvaged the flawed but feel good film. The year has ended on a very good note for super star SRK.

Link http://www.starboxoffice.com/newsDetails.aspx?xfile=2008/December/News_20081220_163