मृत्युदाता

ABCL's maiden production with Big B in the lead. Gave away expectations that the movie will showcase Big B in its glorious form and deliver a product that is nothing short of perfection. Add to that Mehul Kumar fresh out of success of "Tiranga" & "Krantiveer" which breathed a new lease of life for Rajkumar and showcased Nana Patekar in his best. The icing on the cake was the comeback movie of Big B after his sabbatical. You bet, it couldn't get any better.

Sadly even the hardcore Big B fans found it appalling. It seemed the stale 1980's script was served a decade later and fan-base questioned how could the star even approve of it. "Foul" they yelled. Surprisingly the audience cheered when Daler Mehendi's song was injected which gives an inkling how poorly the proceedings were. There was absolutely nothing that seemed positive about "Mrityudaata".

Later Big B accepted with humility that as an artist it was a bad decision to impose a self-exile which led to turning a blind eye to the real world. "Mrityudaata" will be remembered for first amongst the series of flops which sunk his "larger than life-size" image deeper than the reason.

Nonetheless he later returned as a true "phoenix".