Abhishek Bachchan Hits and Flops: Career Analysis

Note: Article was written to be published on Abhishek Bachchan’s birthday (February 5th). Due to some technical difficulties, we couldn’t publish it yesterday.

“Bachchan… the name says it all”. This is one name which stands apart in the Hindi film industry and the general perception has always been that it is easiest for a star kid to find a place in Bollywood. 13 years ago, when Abhishek Bachchan made his debut with J.P. Dutta’s Refugee (2000), he had to carry this colossal burden of stepping into his father, Mr. Amitabh Bachchan’s shoes. Today, on his 37th Birthday, we wish Junior B loads of luck for the future and analyze his major successes in the past.

Abhishek Bachchan Guru

Abhishek Bachchan Guru – His best performance ever

Abhishek’s first film Refugee opened to an excellent response, but was an Average affair in the long run. After that he acted in 15 successive flop films for 4 years until Dhoom (2004) happened. Post Dhoom, Abhishek featured in few commercially viable and critically acclaimed projects. It’s ironical that in spite of acting in almost 40 films (Main Lead + Second Lead), he only has 12 films that have managed to ‘Hit’ the jackpot at the ticket window.

FILM Net BO Collections | Verdict Comments
Refugee (2000) 18.75cr | Average Nominated – Filmfare Award for Best Debut
5th Biggest Grosser of the Year
Dhoom (2004) 29cr | Hit Abhishek’s First Clean Commercial Success
Fourth Biggest Grosser of the Year
Bunty Aur Babli (2005) 35.75 cr | Hit Nominated – Filmfare Award for Best Actor
Second Biggest Grosser of the Year
Biggest Success of Abhishek as Main Lead till date
Sarkar (2005) 23.5cr | Above Average Second Lead to Amitabh Bachchan
Winner – Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actor
Eighth Biggest Grosser of the Year
Dus (2005) 23cr | Above Average Sixth Biggest Grosser of the Year
Bluffmaster (2005) 17cr | Average
Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna (2006) 45.75cr | Hit Second Lead to Shahrukh Khan
Winner – Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actor
Sixth Biggest Grosser of the Year
Dhoom 2 (2006) 80.25cr | Blockbuster Second Lead to Hrithik Roshan
Biggest Grosser of the Year
All Time Opener
Guru (2007) 44cr | Hit Nominated – Filmfare Award for Best Actor
Eighth Biggest Grosser of the Year
Dostana (2008) 44.5cr | Average Nominated – Filmfare Award for Best Actor
Eighth Biggest Grosser of the Year
Paa (2009) 31.25cr | Semi Hit Second Lead to Amitabh Bachchan
National Award for Best Feature Film in Hindi
First Film as Producer (AB Corp. Ltd)
Bol Bachchan (2012) 100cr | Hit Second Lead to Ajay Devgn
Abhishek’s first 100 crore film

 

Note – The list above illustrates 12 safe ventures Abhishek Bachchan has been part of, but only 7 of these were clean hits. Moreover, just 3 of these 7 successes have Abhishek as lead actor.

Cameos: An interesting aspect in AB Jr’s career has been guest appearances. He boasts of doing as many as 14 special appearances (other than 40 main films): Hum Tum (2004), Rakht (2004), Salaam Namaste (2005), Home Delivery: Aapko…Ghar Tak (2005), Ek Ajnabee (2005), Neal n’ Nikki (2005), Alag (2006), Lage Raho Munna Bhai (2006), Shootout at Lokhandwala (2007), Ram Gopal Varma Ki Aag (2007), Om Shanti Om (2007), Mission Istaanbul (2008), Luck by Chance (2009), Jhootha Hi Sahi (2010) – voice over.

Box office flops that were critically acclaimed: There have been some films which were ‘letdowns’ at the box office but Abhishek’s performance was praised by the critics

  • Main Prem Ki Diwani Hoon (2003): Nominated – Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actor.
  • Yuva (2004): Winner – Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actor. After his angry young man portrayal of Lallan in this film, the industry came to know about the real potential of Abhishek for the first time.
  • Antar Mahal (2005): Bengali film by Rituparno Ghosh.
  • Sarkar Raj (2008): Nominated – Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actor.

Upcoming Films of Abhishek Bachchan: His confirmed films include Dhoom3 and Happy New Year where he plays second lead to Aamir Khan and SRK respectively. He currently has no films as a lead actor.

Archit Mishra (read more articles by the author)

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47 Comments

  • Abhishek bachchan will get the biggest hit of his career this year with “Dhoom 3”. Only his “Dhoom” series performs the best.

  • He gave the performance of his life in Guru, a performance that was one of the best that year. It required an outstanding performance by Shahrukh Khan in Chak De India to beat Abhishek that year.

    That actually sums it up. Abhishek has been extremely unlucky.

  • Abhishek is a very good actor & way way better than most other over-rated & over-acting actors. A real underachiever. Hope he will do some successful films and be in the top 10. All the best abhi.

  • Would like to see ab & srk in dostana 3, they make a great pairing as homo lovers as they have hot sizzling chemistry between them.

  • i guess future is bright for abhishek bacchan because there is 2 100 cr. waiting for him in the form of dhoom3 and happy new year. And even dostana 2 and hera-pheri 4 is also looking good.

  • Abhishek is my most fav actor!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    Thanks Indicine for posting such a brilliant article and mind you everybody, he is gonna come back hard soon

  • Abhishek’s best was Bunty Babli and Dostana, because he did more natural acting, rather than ape his father.

    Guru is a different genre film, and i guess he is made for such roles (character driven, subtle roles) not the glam ones.

    After guru, not a single movie of his is hit where he is the sole hero.

    Since he has survived so far, he might get good roles in future, but i doubt he will ever be a superstar, but may be some good character roles.

    All the best to him though.

  • Yaar, I think he is the luckiest person in Planet, having famous surname, or else no person in any profession could sustain after such a big failure ratio. No doubt, he is good actor, but his film choice is very poor.

  • with all due respect only 7 clean hits n only 3 hits as main lead in almost 13 years! this says it all.. he is the ultimate flopstar in the history of indian cinema.. look at people like hrithik roshan n ranbir kapoor who has just started, where they are n where he is.. they have carried the legacy forward.. abhishek bachchan has done nothing but bring shame to bachchan family.. he has survived in this industry after giving so many flops only because of the great mr. amitabh bachchan.. whatever he does he will be remembered only as amitabh bachchan’s son n aishwariya rai’s husband.. this is his only achievement i guess.. even any b or c grade actor who works for 13 years would have more hits than him m sure!

  • indicine please check.. abhishek bachchan has only 6 clean hits not 7.. only in guru he was in the main lead.. even in bunty aur babli mr. amitabh bachchan took away the limelight! in a career span of almost 13 years he has only 1 hit as main lead!

  • who wants to talk about abhishek here????????he’s already out of industry for years..like bobby deol, suneil shetty, vivek oberoi, sunny deol, arshad warsi, sharman joshi, chandrachur singh, uday chopra and a big list of all these C-grade actors!!!!!!!!a dhoom or bol bachchan with other A Listers second lead is not going to take ab junior any further heights…he just have to thank god thats he’s a legend’s son and he’s still in the DHOOM franchise….thats it!!!otherwise we have to say, even ayushmann khurana is better than abhishek in C-Grade.

  • @ praveen,

    You can’t compare Sunny to Abhishek.

    Looks at Sunny’s hit movies – Betaab, Arjun, Damini, Ghayal, Ghatak, Gadar (the biggest blockbuster) and what a brilliant role he did in Border.

    Though he is only in second half of Damini, he lifted the movie to a different level in the second half.

    Yes, Bobby Deol is flop like most others in your list.

  • @praveen are you retarded or something??? Seriously I could understand people being delusional or sarcastically funny but why would you even think about putting Sunny bhais name in the same comment let alone sentence as that dud Abhishek… You have insulted one of Indias most iconic heroes- a hero who on top of his game gives Blockbuster performances. Shame on you for putting Sunny Deol on your otherwise good list. Bobby should be there but the real son of Dharam is Sunny, asli mard!!!!

  • @akash i was ROFL reading ur comment.ur comment was best among all.he is a shame for bachchan family.even emraan is a much much bigger star than him.

    @praveen sunny deol was a superstar of his time and a great actor.use ur head next tym.even arshad warsi and sharman r doing gud without any godfather.

  • abhishek is ugly thats why he is a flop he is discarded by the audience yet he tests our patience..many star children have done better than him because they were better lookin than this moron

  • @jc.navin and jake…i agree that sunny deol was a good actor. what i mean he never became a big star and just faded away without any trace. if he was such a big star.. where is he now?? hibernating?? look at anil kapoor, even on his 62nd birthday, being grandfather, still this guy has movies… has sunny got any?? and done even come to argue taking some hits in the 80’s..

    if he’s a real star like the khans, the kumar and roshans…let him as a sole lead produce a blockbuster now and prove!!!otherwise just shut up because we can say even jackie shroff was a legend..

  • @Praveen.. Sunny Deol is 56 years old now. During his prime, he was one of the biggest stars in the country. Just because Amitabh Bachchan or for that matter Sanjay Dutt isn’t a big solo lead star now, doesn’t mean they weren’t megastars.

    What you say doesn’t make any sense. The next generation may not consider SRK or Salman a superstar, does that take away the craze they commanded during their prime?

  • Best of luck abhishek. Want more movies like guru,yuva,sarkar series and comedy movies like b aur b and dostana(don’t like bol bachchan, do not work in over masala movies). Waiting 4 dhoom3,hny.

  • @jake – believe me bro even my maid would have more hits than him n act better than him if given a chance to work for 13 years! he is an waste of opportunity.. even aishwariya rai married him just becoz he is amitabh bachchan’s son! dear abhishek bachchan plz quit bollywood n look after aradhya.. i sincerely hope u dont fail in it too!.. all the best!

    Grandfather- legendary poet
    Father- legendary actor superstar
    Mother- respected actress n star of her times
    Wife – Miss world, international icon, star actress
    Abhishek bachchan – the less we speak the better!

  • abhishek is not an actor.he is the son of amitabh bacchan. That is his only identity. Even a dog can act better than him.

  • Good Actor but made bad desicions in his early years. He’s improving but needs to learn not to sign every film he gets.

  • abhishek is such an intense actor whenever i look back on his career regret is all i feel for his choices and the scripts and director who could have helped him carve a niche for himself.also theatre involvement could have worked wonders for him.see what good directors in guru and yuva did to him.also stop eating itli abhishek and check into what diet other actors follow i will be more than happy if someone relays the news to him keep playing second fiddle till you get good solo roles.

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