Are
you
kidding?
The
letter
'R'
kept
recurring
in
2010.
The
biggest
letdown
of
the
year
Raavan
and
one
of
the
biggest
hits
of
the
year
Raajneeti
shared
the
'R'
factor.
No
doubt
Ranbir
Kapoor
was
the
star
of
the
year
while
Rahman,
the
maestro
from
Chennai
lost
some
of
his
sheen
with
unpardonable
delays
and
mediocre
scores
like
Raavan
and
Jhootha
Hi
Sahi.
The
biggest
chartbuster
of
the
year
came
from
the
low
profile
Lalit
Pandit
whose
'Munni
Badnaam
Hui'
instantly
joined
the
ranks
of
the
ritziest
item
songs
in
Bollywood,
on
a
par
with
'Kajra
Re'
and
'Beedi
Jalai
Le'.
It
also
catapulted
the
sizzling
Malaika
Arora
to
dizzying
heights
of
glory.
Malaika
will
now
dance
only
for
her
husband
producer
Arbaaz
Khan's
films
and
will
of
course
endorse
the
brand
of
balm
that
the
song
so
seductively
talks
about.
Brand
endorsement
and
Bollywood
became
inextricably
bonded
in
2010.
When
stars
were
not
shooting
feature
films
(and
many
of
the
leading
ladies
were
not)
they
were
shooting
ads.
And
when
they
weren't
shooting
ads
they
were
shooting
their
mouths
off
to
the
media.
Otherwise
there
were
always
the
stage
performances.
Besides
AR
Rahman's
World
Tour,
there
were
no
major
world-concert
tours
from
Bollywood
in
2010.
2011
will
see
Ranbir
Kapoor
take
off
for
his
first
ever
live
performance
all
over
the
world.
If
A-lister
stars
were
not
heading
to
the
stage
they
took
off
for
television.
Priyanka
Chopra
displayed
some
delectable
derring-do
on
Fear
Factor.
The
Big
B
and
Salman
Khan
decided
to
helm
Kaun
Banega
Crorepati
and
Bigg
Boss,
respectively.
Akshay
Kumar
opted
to
do
a
cookery
show
The
Master
Chef
which
sadly
did
not
turn
out
to
be
finger-licking
good.
In
2010,
Ranbir
lent
his
cool
clout
quotient
to
Prakash
Jha's
blockbuster
political
drama
Raajneeti.
Later
during
the
year
came
the
unexpected
clanger
Anjaana
Anjaani
which
boasted
of
the
virgin
Ranbir-Priyanka
pair
(Maybe
the
fault
lay
with
the
word
Anjaana.
No
films
with
that
title
Anjaana,
Do
Anjaane,
Anjaan
Rahein
has
ever
done
well).
Audiences
preferred
the
tried
and
tested
Ranbir-Katrina
jodi.
That
real-life
jodis
don't
work
on
screen
was
again
proven
this
year
with
the
debacle
of
Raavan
bringing
the
hot-and-coveted
real-life
jodi
of
Abhishek
and
Aishwarya
Rai
Bachchan.
The
back-to-back
success
and
failure,
respectively,
of
Raajneeti
and
Raavan
within
two
weeks
of
one
another
came
as
a
shock
to
the
film
industry.
What
exactly
does
the
audience
want?
Stars
they
love?
Then
how
do
we
explain
the
abysmally
low
opening
of
Mani
Shankar's
and
Rahul
Dholakia's
Sanjay
Dutt
starrer
Knock
Out
and
Lamhaa?
The
turn-out
of
newcomers
was
shockingly
sub-standard
in
2010.
Barring
an
Anaitha
Nair
in
Nagesh
Kukunoor's
Aashayein
and
an
Aditya
Roy
Kapoor
in
Action
Replayy
and
Guzaarish,
there
was
not
a
single
new
face
audiences
could
take
home
to
Mom…or
Dad.
Salman
Khan,
who
introduced
the
Katrina
Kaif
lookalike
Zarine
Khan
earlier
during
the
year
in
the
box-office
fiasco
Veer,
did
a
much
better
job
of
introducing
Sonakshi
Sinha
in
the
year's
smash
hit
Dabangg.
Sonakshi
was
undoubtedly
the
discovery
of
the
year.
In
a
year
cluttered
with
monstrous
debacles
like
Anurag
Basu's
pricey
Kites
and
Mani
Ratnam's
dicey
Raavan,
Dabangg
was
the
face-saver.
Producer
Arbaaz
Khan
is
still
counting
the
profits.
The
film
propelled
Salman
ahead
of
the
other
Khan
superstars
for
a
while.
Another
Khan,
Imran
had
a
hit
in
debutant
director
Punit
Malhotra's
I
Hate
LUV
Storys,
which
was
also
Sonam
Kapoor's
career's
first
bonafide
success.
Later
during
the
year
her
home
production
Aisha
was
pretty
thanda
and
not
so
cool-cool.
The
director
Rajshri
Ojha
was
pretty
much
lost
in
the
film's
designer
babble.
There
were
some
significant
debutant
directors
this
year.
Vikram
Motwane
blew
our
mind
with
his
coming-of-age
saga
Udaan.
Siddharth
Malhotra
managed
an
impossible
casting
coup
in
his
directorial
debut
We
Are
Family
when
he
brought
together
Kajol
and
Kareena
Kapoor.
Abhishek
Chaubey
fashioned
an
unusual
drama
of
sex,
jealousy,
murder
and
adultery
with
Ishqiya
set
in
the
cow
belt.
Without
glamorous
trappings
Ishqiya
was
a
sleeper
hit
about
rural
India
and
its
fetish
for
infidelity.
Later
during
the
year
debutant
director
Anusha
Rizvi's
Peepli
(LIVE)
too
did
well
enough
for
us
to
assume
that
rural
India
was
back
on
the
Bollywood
map.
Period
films
as
a
genre
suffered
a
setback
with
Veer
and
Khelein
Hum
Jee
Jaan
Sey
failing
to
draw
in
the
crowds.
By
year-
end
it
was
clear
that
the
disappointments
at
the
box
office
far
outweighed
the
triumphs.
Meanwhile
Sanjay
Dutt
and
Nandita
Das,
who
once
starred
together
in
a
film
called
Pitaah,
became
proud
parents.
Sanju
and
his
wife
Manyata
were
blessed
with
twins
while
Nandita
and
her
business
man
hubby
Subodh
Maskara
were
blessed
with
a
baby
boy.
Vivek
Oberoi
tied
the
knot
in
what
he
called
an
arranged-cum-love-zyada
marriage.
Vivek
had
two
films
to
his
credit
this
year
new
director
Kookie
Gulati's
Prince
and
veteran
Ram
Gopal
Varma's
Rakht
Charitra.
By
year-end,
the
star
system
was
again
at
low
ebb.
But
myopic
producers
continued
to
pay
them
unheard-of
prices.
Except
Aamir
Khan,
no
other
actor
Bollywood
can
seduce
audiences
into
theatres.
So
why
pay
them
in
multi-crores?
Time
to
ask
these
questions
all
over
again
in
2011.