Kangana Ranaut to Kapil Sharma: Four Bollywood careers that took a nosedive in 2017

Four stars -- Kangana Ranaut, Saif Ali Khan, Kapil Sharma and Shraddha Kapoor -- found the going tough in 2017. Here’s what went wrong and what 2018 holds for them.

YEAR ENDER 2017 Updated: Dec 30, 2017 11:17 IST

Sweta Kaushal
Hindustan Times, New Delhi

The films of Kangana Ranaut, Kapil Sharma, Shraddha Kapoor and Saif Ali Khan failed to deliver in 2017.

It has been a cruel year. While Bollywood has had a meh year with Tiger Zinda Hai coming as one of the few reasons to cheer about for the trade, some actors have had more difficult than the years. Here are four stars who had more bad news than good and need to pull up their socks for 2018.

Kangana Ranaut

Post Queen, only Tanu Weds Manu Returns worked for Kangana Ranaut.

Kangana Ranaut has been in the news for all of 2017. With two releases - Rangoon and Simran - that was to be expected. However, what gave the top of mind recall value were her run-ins with powerful faces in Bollywood such as Hrithik Roshan and Karan Johar.

While controversies dogged her every step, it was her career that took a drubbing. Both her films that released this year failed to perform well at the box office. It has becomes something of a pattern with her. Post Queen (2014), the actor was seen as one of the top female actors in the industry. However, since then she has had seven releases and only one film (Tanu Weds Manu Returns) registered profits.

With her series of interviews calling out the biggest celebs in the industry (Karan Johar and Hrithik Roshan), Kangana has confessed that her image and work has taken a hit. Currently, she is working on a biopic of Rani Lakshmibai called Manikarnika which was originally supposed to be directed by Ketan Mehta. However, the film is being directed by Krish and the actor plans to plunge into production with her next movie.

Saif Ali Khan

Saif Ali Khan’s film was a remake of Jon Favreau’s Chef.

Saif Ali Khan has starred in films like Hum Tum, Omkara, Dil Chahta Hai and Go Goa Gone, which made him one of most sought after actors in the industry. However, his past few releases have been rather disappointing. In fact, his last box office hit was Sajid Khan’s Humshakals (2014) and that is a rare hit film where almost all stars disowned the film after critics widely panned it for its regressive content. In the past one year, Saif was seen in the period drama, Rangoon, and Raja Krishna Menon’s remake of Jon Favreau’s Chef. Both films failed to impress, registering losses at the ticket windows.

Kapil Sharma

Despite Kapil Sharma’s efforts, Firangi turned out to be tedious and monotonous.

It has been a year of controversies for the erstwhile TV star. It all started with an infamous fight with his co-star Sunil Grover in March during which Kapil allegedly threw a shoe at him. The TV ratings of his show, The Kapil Sharma Show, plummeted and speculation about him cancelling the shooting of his shows after making stars wait for hours emerged. By August, Kapil had cancelled shoots seven times with A-list Bollywood celebs, including Shah Rukh Khan and Ajay Devgn, for a variety of reason. The show was later pulled off air and Kapil cited health reasons for it. His second Bollywood outing, Firangi, proved to be a box office dud and failed to impress critics as well.

Shraddha Kapoor

Haseena Parkar was an unmitigated disaster.

She is one of the few top actors in Bollywood who had three major releases in 2017. While Shaad Ali’s Ok Jaanu received flak from critics and earned mere Rs 21 crore at the box office, Mohit Suri’s adaptation of Chetan Bhagat’s Half Girlfriend did comparatively better but earned no brownie points for its main leads.

Apoorva Lakhia’s Haseena Parkar was being touted as one of the biggest films of her career, and the focus being Shraddha’s character Haseena, it could have been her vehicle to the top slot. Unfortunately, not only did the film fail to bring the audience to the theatres with a dismal collection of Rs 6 crore, Shraddha was panned widely for over-the-top performance and her accent.

While Kapil has his TV show to look forward to, Kangana can bank upon Manikarnika while Kaalakandi might be Saif Ali Khan’s turning point. Shraddha Kapoor, on the other hand, may re-launch her career if Saaho works in her favour. Only time will tell.

Reference: http://www.hindustantimes.com/bollywood/kangana-ranaut-to-kapil-sharma-four-bollywood-careers-that-took-a-nosedive-in-2017/story-hMsc53sEukfOo2L9Cl8oeK.html

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