India's biggest flop was most expensive film ever, had 4 pan-India superstars, earned Rs 8 crore, producer went bankrupt

By the late-80s, the scale of Indian films had begun to increase. Films like Raziya Sultan had budgets of Rs 7 crore and climbing higher. In 1991, Shashi Kapoor made the superhero fantasy film Ajooba, the most expensive Indian film at that point, with a budget of Rs 8 crore. But months later, a Telugu actor-filmmaker broke that record. And just like Ajooba, this film was a massive failure too, despite the presence of four superstars.

India’s most expensive film, a pan-India action adventure

Shanti Kranti was an action film produced and directed by V Ravichandran in 1991. The film was an ambitious project, simultaneously made in four languages – Kannada, Telugu, Tamil, and Hindi. Ravichandran himself played the lead role in the Kannada version, casting Juhi Chawla as the female lead. Khushbu and Anant Nag were cast in supporting roles. These three were the only actors to appear in all four versions. The biggest change in the other versions were the lead actors. Nagarjuna played the hero in the Telugu version. Rajinikanth, on the other hand, was the lead in the Hindi and Tamil versions. Made on a budget of Rs 10 crore, Shanti Kranti was the most expensive Indian film at the time, a record that stood till Trimurti broke it four years later.

How Shanti Kranti became a pan-India disaster

Despite a massive budget, the presence of four superstars, and big publicity across India, Shanti Kranti was a huge box office bomb. It failed to recover its budget, earning just Rs 8 crore at the box office. V Ravinchandran, who put in most of the money himself, went bankrupt, losing all his money. To make up for the losses, the actor had to work in a lot of low-budget films over the years.

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