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When Ratan Tata produced a film that turned out to be a box office disaster

When Ratan Tata produced a film that turned out to be a box office disaster

Sep 30, 2024, 11:59 AM IST

Ratan Tata ventured into film production in the early 2000s with the 2004 film Aetbaar starring Amitabh Bachchan, John Abraham and Bipasha Basu.

Noted industrialist Ratan Tata tried his hand at the film industry in the early 2000s when he co-produced a Bollywood film starring Amitabh Bachchan, John Abraham and Bipasha Basu. The film was called Aetbaar and was released in cinemas in 2004. The romantic psychological thriller is directed by Vikram Bhatt and was inspired by the 1996 Hollywood film Fear.

₹9.50 crore budget, just earning ₹7.96 crore, which prompted Tata to discontinue its film production efforts. (Instagram/@ratantata)” title=”Ratan Tata entered the film industry in 2004 with Aetbaar starring Amitabh Bachchan. The film, inspired by Hollywood’s Fear, failed to regain its success ₹9.50 crore budget, just earning ₹7.96 crore, which prompted Tata to discontinue its film production efforts. (Instagram/@ratantata)“ /> ₹9.50 crore budget, just earning ₹7.96 crore, which prompted Tata to discontinue its film production efforts. (Instagram/@ratantata)” title=”Ratan Tata entered the film industry in 2004 with Aetbaar starring Amitabh Bachchan. The film, inspired by Hollywood’s Fear, failed to regain its success ₹9.50 crore budget, just earning ₹7.96 crore, which prompted Tata to discontinue its film production efforts. (Instagram/@ratantata)“ />
Ratan Tata entered the film industry in 2004 with Aetbaar starring Amitabh Bachchan. The film, inspired by Hollywood’s Fear, failed to regain its success ₹9.50 crore budget, just earning ₹7.96 crore, which prompted Tata to discontinue its film production efforts. (Instagram/@ratantata)

Amitabh Bachchan played the character of Dr. Ranveer Malhotra, a possessive father who wants to protect his daughter Ria Malhotra (played by Bipasha Basu) from her obsessive partner Aryan Trivedi (played by John Abraham). The film was co-produced by Ratan Tata and had a budget of ₹9.50 Crore. The film could only make money ₹7.96 crore at the box office, which didn’t even cover the production costs.

On IMDb, the film’s plot is explained as follows: “A protective father begins to delve deeper into the past of his daughter’s possessive, unpredictable and violent boyfriend.”

One user on the platform reviews the film and notes: “The story was pretty unrealistic. I don’t mean the premise, because that was actually pretty good. However, the way the story unfolded was quite far-fetched and worthy of a cheap horror novel. Amitabh Bachchan gave a strong performance as always but the rest of the cast cannot act at all.”

While another user appreciated the film, he said, “I think this film was released at the wrong time and decade. There aren’t many great thrillers in Bollywood, but this one is great.” Certainly, the dubbed voices of John and Bipasha combined with the terrible dialogues were super annoying at some points.”

Following this, Ratan Tata did not continue his foray into film production.

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