7 reasons why Hrithik Roshan's Mohenjo Daro turned out to be a DISAPPOINTMENT at the box office

By Sreeju Sudhakaran
| Updated: August 16, 2016 9:48 AM IST

We decode what went wrong with the big budget prehistoric adventure drama in our simple way.

Mohenjo Daro should have been a big winner. It should have been a trendsetter. It should have been breaking records by now. Also Read - Tiger 3 box office collection Day 6: Salman Khan and Katrina Kaif starrer sees a jump on Saturday; eyes 400 crore mark

We had every reason to think that. For one, the film stars Hrithik Roshan one of the biggest stars in the industry, and who can even make a stupid actioner like Bang Bang work at the box office. Secondly, it was made by Ashutosh Gowariker, who brought India to the Oscars with his Lagaan and made the best film on nationalism in Swades (and later he made duds like What's Your Raashee? and Khelein Hum Jee Jaan Sey). Thirdly, it was set in an era no Indian film had ever attempted before - prehistoric India - and that itself is the film's biggest USP. All in all, it should have been exciting AF! Also Read - World Cup 2023 final: Salman Khan predicts who will win in the India vs Australia match

Instead, it will be cited as the latest example by Bollywood for damp squibs in movies. The trailers weren't impressive, the songs were average, Hrithik Roshan actually promoted Akshay Kumar's Rustom more than his own film, and the final film was just so disappointing. What do you expect when Rakesh Roshan nailed the crocodile attack so perfectly right in Khoon Bhari Maang during the '80s, but his own son had to grapple with a totally fake looking reptile that won't even scare my 2-year old niece? Also Read - Tiger 3: Salman Khan warns a fan who wishes to give flowers to Katrina Kaif; says 'Vicky Kaushal bahut marega' [Watch]

So as expected, Mohenjo Daro took a huge beating at the box office, grossing just a little over Rs 30 crores at the domestic box office in three days. If it was a Bhatt film, the figure was sufficient. However, Mohenjo Daro involved huge productions costs, so that number sucked!

Here are 7 reasons why Mohenjo Daro failed to make a killing at the box office. Please note, I am not mentioning the huge production costs here, because we had seen last year what Baahubali can do!

The unimpressive trailers

Enough has been said about the trailers that has been one of the most trolled promos of the year. Say what you want about it, but Mohenjo Daro's trailer made historians and archeologists out of a common man, as everyone was in search of any historical inaccuracies in there. Ashutosh Gowariker later told that we should not judge the movie by the trailer, which makes no sense since the trailer should have the best scenes of the film. And guess what, the final movie was everything the trailer showed, and it sucked!

Clashing with Akshay Kumar, the most bankable star

Akshay Kumar is on a very good form. He hasn't failed a single failure from the beginning of last year, despite having multiple releases in both 2015 and 2016. He knows the pulse of the audience and is mixing and matching genres to offer entertaining stuff to his fans. Rustom may not be his best film, in fact it's just about good. Yet, Akshay's star power was enough to make the film sail through smoothly at the box office.

Less than impressive marketing strategy

Continuing with Akshay Kumar, he made half the industry, with the likes of Salman Khan, Alia Bhatt, Ranveer Singh, Varun Dhawan, support his film through little videos. Meanwhile, Mohenjo Daro's marketing was not much to talk about. In this era of aggressive marketing, that's a huge missout!

Editing disaster and zilch chemistry between the leads

We have talked about the pre-release buzz, now let's talk about post release issues. Like every Ashutosh Gowariker film, even Mohenjo Daro suffers from a bloated runtime, and a predictable storyline ruins things further for the viewers. Also, the chemistry between Hrithik Roshan and Pooja Hegde was nothing to write about, and that had everything to do with the faulty screenplay.

AR Rahman in not-so-great form

It has to say something about the film, when even the Oscar-winning music maestro AR Rahman dole out some very uninspiring tracks. Mohenjo Daro badly needed a superb track like Ghanan Ghanan (Lagaan), Yuhi Chala Chal (Swades) and Kehne Ko Jashn-e-Bahara hai (Jodha Akbar), but we have to be content with Tu Hai, which is sweet but not too strong enough.

Bad CGI

Our audience have been exposed to some really good Hollywood blockbusters with dazzling CGI, so showing them a movie with lacklustre special effects is a bad idea. If they wanted to see anything with a fake animal trying to look threatening, they would have sat at home and watched Naaginn instead.

Poor critical acclaim and word-of-mouth response

All the above factors will, of course, lead to bad reviews. Unless you are a Salman Khan, there is no way you can save the film from surviving the bad buzz, especially when people do have another option to watch at the theatres. So Rustom scores again!

Do you agree these are the reasons for the film failing at the box office? Drop your comments below...

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BySreeju Sudhakaran
| Updated: August 16, 2016 9:48 AM IST