2007 was a below average year for the production house which saw three major box office failures - JHOOM BARABAR JHOOM, AAJA NACHLE and LAAGA CHUNARI MEIN DAAG. While TA RA RUM PUM was an above average success (the film was directed by Siddharth himself), it was an 'outsider' Shimit Amin who brought cheers for the camp with his CHAK DE INDIA.
Now all eyes are set on Siddharth Anand to achieve a similar feat with BACHNA AE HASEENO since it is being touted as a sure shot success in the making. 2008 has been the worst year for YRF in the current decade with flops like TASHAN and THODA PYAAR THODA MAGIC.
It makes it imperative for BACHNA AE HASEENO to hit the bull's eye since Aditya Chopra and company has been thirsting for a box office success for ages now.
If the buzz going round the town is to be believed, Siddharth Anand is all set to make it possible with his Ranbir Kapoor, Bipasha Basu, Deepika Padukone and Minissha Lamba starrer which is boasting of a chartbuster soundtrack by Vishal-Shekhar.
Says an insider, "For Siddharth, it is a film with which he has a point to prove. After a big success like SALAAM NAMASTE, everyone expected a moon from him with TA RA RUM PUM.
Even though it didn't match the scale of SALAAM NAMASTE in terms of box office standing, it was an earner nevertheless. But with BACHNA AE HASEENO, he knew that he had to shut up his detractors."
So will the bad season end for YRF with BACHNA AE HASEENO?
"Pretty much looks like", he says confidently, "Siddharth has gone all out in making sure that each frame counts and has been conscious about how the end product would look from day one. His film would certainly go places after it's release."
Subhash Ghai's Taal (1999) was the first Bollywood film to be insured. Earlier this year only UTV's Jodhaa Akbar, Harry Baweja's Love Story 2050 and Aamir Khan Productions' Jaane Tu...Ya Jaane Na were insured while rest Bollywood filmmakers shied away from insuring their films.
The reason why most of the producers are not insuring their film is that they don't pay the huge premiums that come along with it. The premium to insure a film usually ranges between 0.75-1 per cent of the total insured amount.
One fails to understand that, if the makers are willing to spend crores on signing their stars, why are they not securing their films by spending just a few lakhs!