Directors have far more at stake than an actor when a film doesn't do well. Worse still, if they make a slew of films that don't do well. Others have bad experiences and swear off. The names below had relatively short stints in Bollywood. Some blazed in their short spans, some crashed while most burned out.
Mansoor Ali Khan: Nasir Husain's son Mansoor launched cousin Aamir Khan as a star in Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak. He followed it up with the sporty Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikandar and the Kramer Versus Kramer remake Akele Hum Akele Tum, all with Aamir. Then Josh happened. Shah Rukh Khan was signed on first, but Aamir turned down the role that eventually went to Chandrachur Singh. By the time the film released, Mansoor was disillusioned. He retired from filmmaking and moved to Coorg. That was 14 years ago. He never looked back.
Tarun Mansukhani: Dostana, a politically incorrect take on homophobia with John Abraham and Abhishek Bachchan pretending to be gay, was a hit. The sequel was planned and scrapped at least five times. And now Tarun's career remains uncertain. Unless he comes up with a script for Dostana 2.
Siddharth Malhotra: Karan Johar got him the dream team of Kajol and Kareena Kapoor in We Are Family. But the film bombed. Mentor never looked back. Reportedly Johar rejected two scripts of Malhotra one after another.
Raghav Dhar: Made My Friend Pinto which unmade Prateik Babbar's career and also infuriated producer Sanjay Leela Bhansali for its absurd attempts to be quirky and cool at the expense of all logic. Raghav is lost to the filmmaking cause.
Vijay Lalwani: He made Karthik Calling Karthik, an existential mystery story about a dysfunctional man played by Farhan Akhtar. The film turned out to be the biggest failure of Farhan's production house. No more was heard of Mr Lalwani.
Arjun Sablok: Started with Na Tum Jaano Na Hum starring Hrithik Roshan and Esha Deol. Arjun made one more film, a desperately 'sexy' film called Neal & Nikki for Yashraj Films. It is best remembered today for Tanishaa Mukerji's ample cleavage display. It finished off Sablok's career.
Rohit Jugraj: A Ram Gopal Varma discovery, the talented Rohit 'remade' James for RGV (Varma had made it a year earlier). Rohit also made the thriller Superstar with Kunal Kemmu in the lead. His career came to a standstill after that. He recently directed a Punjabi film.
Owais Hussain: The legendary MF Hussain's son apparently ghost-directed his father's Meenaxi: A Tale Of 2 Cities. He then directed Pehla Sitara featuring Subhash Ghai's discovery Anuraag Sinha with Sonal Chauhan. Nothing was heard of the film thereafter.
John Matthew: Made a powerful impact with Sarfarosh. Waited five years for Aamir Khan to give the nod to his second script, finally made Shikhar with Shahid Kapoor, followed by a half-complete Himesh Rashammiya-starrer. Now John's career lies suspended.
Anil Devgan: Ajay Devgn's brother got the chance to direct his star-bro in two films Raju Chacha and Blackmail. Neither worked.
ONCE IS ENOUGH
Naseeruddin Shah: Directed the episodic Yun Hota Toh Kya Hota. It was such a nightmarish experience that he swore never to direct again.
Randhir Kapoor: Henna was his father Raj Kapoor's dream. Randhir directed the film after his death. That was it.
Rishi Kapoor: His Aa Ab Laut Chalein was not a bad film. But it didn't work at the box-office. Rishi swore off direction.
Joy Mukherjee: Directed Humsaya with himself, Sharmila Tagore and Mala Sinha.
Pankaj Kapoor: Mausam was a Rs120 crore fiasco. Never again, he swore.
Sunny Deol: Directed Dillagi with brother Bobby, Urmila Matondkar, and himself in the lead.
Andaleep Sultanpuri: Poet-lyricist Majrooh Sultanpuri's son directed Jaanam Samjha Karo with Salman and Urmila Matondkar in the lead. The film bombed and Andaleep vanished.
Ajit Pal: Television actor made directorial debut with the cricket film Victory featuring Harman Baweja. No more was heard.
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