Revisiting The Box Office Of Amitabh Bachchan & John Abraham’s Aetbaar, Which Was Bankrolled By Ratan Tata ( Photo Credit – Instagram; Prime Video )
Advertisement
Last night, we heard shattering news about Ratan Tata’s death. One of the biggest Indian industrialists, philanthropists, and icons, Tata, died yesterday. More than being a powerful personality, Tata was known for his principles and for being a true patriot. As the entire nation mourns his loss today, let’s revisit the box office run of the only film he ever produced, Aetbaar.
Very few people would be aware that Ratan Tata showed an interest in the movie business and even went on to bankroll the film. He did not back the entire film, but he was one of the producers, along with Jatin Kumar, Khushroo Bhadha, and Mandeep Singh. Here, we’re talking about Aetbaar, which was released in 2004. It was inspired by an American thriller, Fear (1996).
Aetbaar was directed by Vikram Bhatt. It featured Amitabh Bachchan, John Abraham, Bipasha Basu, and Supriya Pilgaonkar in key roles. Though both John and Bipasha had the success of Jism (2003) in their kitty, the film was majorly dependent on Amitabh’s towering presence since both John and Bipasha were newbies in Bollywood.
Upon its release, Aetbaar opened to not-so-good reviews from critics, and even the ticket-buying audience gave a thumbs down to it. As a result, it tanked at the Indian box office and was declared a disaster. It was such a debacle that it even failed to recover the production cost.
As per Box Office India, the Vikram Bhatt directorial was made on a budget of 9.50 crores. Against this cost, the film did a business of just 4.25 crores net at the Indian box office. So, the romantic psychological thriller suffered a deficit of 5.25 crores, which means it failed to recover 55.26% of its total cost.
Including overseas collections, Aetbaar ended its journey at just 7.96 crores gross. So, now we know why Ratan Tata didn’t try his hands at producing films again.
Note: Box office numbers are based on estimates and various sources. Numbers have not been independently verified by Koimoi.
Stay tuned to Koimoi for more box office stories and updates!
