The Lady Killer: Lessons from India’s Biggest Film Flop
Sometimes, even big stars can lead to big losses. One movie is a perfect example.
Bhushan Kumar's T-Series company produced the film.
Making movies in India can cost a lot of money. Big films are very expensive.
They pay a lot for actors and special effects. The bigger the star, the more money they spend.
Sometimes, even big stars can lead to big losses. One movie is a perfect example.
It had a budget of ₹45 crore. But it earned only ₹60,000. This means it lost a huge 99.99% of its money. This makes it the biggest flop in Indian cinema history.
The Biggest Box Office Flop
The movie that failed is called The Lady Killer. Ajay Bahl directed it. The film was released in 2023.
It starred Arjun Kapoor and Bhumi Pednekar. It is a crime thriller.
Bhushan Kumar's T-Series company produced the film. Filming began in 2022. The budget went up because they had to do many reshoots. In the end, it cost ₹45 crore to make.
When it was released, it sold only 293 tickets on its first day. It made less than a lakh in total.
The Lady Killer did not do well because it was not finished. Reports say the ending was not fully shot. The director, Ajay Bahl, first agreed with this idea. But then he changed his mind later.
The movie was shown in only a few theatres in November 2023. The makers had a deal with Netflix to stream it in December.
To keep this deal, they had to release it in theatres first.
The Release Trouble
Because of the rushed release, the stars did not promote the film. Arjun and Bhumi did not have a big marketing campaign. There was only a trailer.
After the movie flopped and got bad press, the Netflix deal fell through, and it was released for free on YouTube in September 2024, gaining 2.4 million views but receiving mostly negative comments.
