2010 was a year that saw the maturing audience preferring content over stars. When small-budget films and intellectual scripts saw thumbs up from the public, some over hyped films were bloopers. Here’s a look at 5 disaster films of 2010:
1. Kites: Riding on huge hype and hoopla, ‘Kites’ came bringing in a smouldering chemistry between Greek God Hrithik and the Mexican curry Barbara, but dearth of a good screenplay made the film lick dust at box office. It was one of the biggest duds of 2010.

2. Raavan: Aishwarya Rai teamed up with hubby Abhishek for the umpteenth time but despite being visually opulent, the sluggishness of the film stamped a flop all over director Mani Ratnam. A big disappointment!
3. Veer: Salman Khan took the pen for this one, grew long tresses and mingled history with love to portray the story of a ‘Veer’ warrior. But unfortunately, no audience felt ‘Veer’ enough to watch this one. But, later on, Salman compensated by digging gold with ‘Dabangg’.
4. Guzaarish: Another masterly and poetic work from Sanjay Leela Bhansali and received great accolades from critics. And with Hrithik and Aishwarya (the hit Jodi of Dhoom 2 and Jodhaa Akbar), the film was destined to be a mega hit. However, astonishingly, audience showed no interest in watching this one.
5. Khelein Hum Jee Jaan sey: Acclaimed director Ashutosh Gowariker enlivened the pages of history once again as he dressed up Abhishek Bachchan in the dhoti-kurta of freedom fighter Surya Sen. But the response that it got at the cash counters was colder than mere lukewarm.

Aishwarya Rai has had her most brilliant year yet; she’s even looked the part

The most delicious scene in Guzaarish was when Aishwarya Rai draws open the net curtains around a debilitated Hritik Roshan’s bed. Elbows out, she marched with an operatic grace only forgiven in a Sanjay Leela Bhansali film. This wasn’t Broadway, and she isn’t Anne Hathaway. But what may have been condemned as stage-y had it been another actor, was controlled exaggeration for Aishwarya, like a poetic hyperbole.

In Raavan, she looked ethereal, even ghost-like. She fell from a branch of a tree into a raging river in a manner more elegant than a qualified dancer’s moves. Her taandav with Abhishek Bachchan in the film was a visual feast. Yes, he is handsome and a tender performer, but who can get their gaze off the wife?

In the same vein, Aishwarya’s fashion-speak is of her own lexicon. There is nobody in this country who’d vote her the best dressed. I don’t know any woman who admires her style. And I can’t recall any film costume of hers that has sparked a retail phenomenon among her fans.
But it still cannot be denied that she is a jaw-droppingly beautiful woman, a former supermodel, lithe, poised and also a very successful actor in some truly commercial films. She may have been through a string of fashion un-savvy designers — like Neeta Lulla (who made a spectacular wardrobe for her in Jodhaa Akbar and made up for her gaffes in Cannes seven years ago)— but she’s also been with critically loved stylists like Sabyasachi. Her almost decade-long stint with Longines and L’Oreal has ensured her wardrobe reads names like Giorgio Armani, Herve Leger, Roberto Cavalli and Elie Saab. But she still hasn’t made it to the list of fashion icons. Maybe that is the actor’s biggest strength.

This Friday will see the return of one of Bollywood fan’s favorite jodis when Guzaarish, starring Hrithik Roshan and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan opens in theaters. The early buzz is that the duo has created magic on screen in their roles of Ethan and Sofia in the Sanjay Leela Bhansali directed film. We thought in honor of the film’s release we would take a look at some of the best scenes between the reel couple and then because we wanted to, and knew you, our dear readers, would enjoy it, we also decided to list some of the highlights from their separate films.

Hrithik and Aishwarya’s Magical Jodi

Before Guzaarish, the Aishwarya and Hrithik jodi has made jadoo on screen in two films, and they could not be any more polar opposite. First there was Dhoom 2 in 2006, Hrithik and Aishwarya were in their modern avatars as Mr. A and ‘are you like checkin me out’ Sunheri. Though there were many great moments between the two in the action film, we thought of two we just had to mention. Audiences could not wait to see the gorgeous duo dancing together and they lit the screen on fire in the ‘Dil Laga Na’ number. Doing one of the things they both do best, both Hrithik and Aishwarya looked hot and completely cool at the same time. Then there is the infamous KISS! You have the handsome Hrithik and the beautiful Aishwarya in a scene filled with tension and it ends in a very hot kiss. Of course, being Bollywood, there was an uproar. It was rumored that the Bachchan family objected to the kiss, there was rumbling among fans and even a court case, but in the end, it is the kiss that is one of the best and most remembered scenes from the hit film.

The actor and actress went in a completely opposite direction for their second film together when they starred in the period epic Jodhaa Akbar. We had a hard time picking moments from the film because every scene with the two is done brilliantly, but here are three scenes that we feel really define their jodi in this film. One of the first is when Akbar sees Jodhaa for the first time. She is praying, the song ‘Mann Mohanaa’ is playing… he walks around, sees her face and is stunned. Then there is the scene after the wedding, they are in the bedroom and she lowers the curtain between them, the look on his and her face is priceless. The scene at the gate when he sends her away in his jealousy, both acted the feelings of betrayal wonderfully. Oh wait, it must be four scenes because, we have to mention the sword-fighting scene as well, so much passion, so much desire and not a word spoken.

Yes, we could go on and on and on, but now we will go on to some of the highlights that they have brought separately to the silver screen.

Aishwarya’s Best

One of Aishwarya’s best performances is in Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam. She is terrific as Nandini and her portrayal of the path from spoiled lovesick girl to mature woman who loves her husband is wonderful. In a movie filled with great moments two of the best are the last scenes of the film, one with Salman and one with Ajay. Of course while talking of HDDCS, we must mention ‘Nimbooda’. Combine Aishwarya’s great skill as a dancer and the art of Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s films and you have a dance sequence full of beauty.

It was and still is considered one of the best item numbers ever. We are talking about the sultry Aish in ‘Kajra Re’ from Bunty Aur Babli. ‘Hai Hai’, as Big B said!

One of Aishwarya’s more unusual films is Leena Yadav’s Shabd. Most people first of all think about her bed scene ‘Chahaton Ka Silsila’ with a soft and very tender Sanjay Dutt – but the scene which leaves you really speechless is in the end when Sanjay, torn by schizophrenia, is losing his mind and Aishwarya desperately tries to convince him that nothing has happened, that he didn’t kill anyone and that she loves him and no one else. Goosebumps!

More recently Aishwarya was seen in Mani Ratman’s Raavan. She was great in the song ‘Khili Re’, but it was her eyes that did the acting in this film. Our reviewer said, “In a nuanced, quite brilliant performance, Aishwarya delivers perhaps her finest work to date and Raavan is her film.”

Devdas began her work with Sanjay Leela Bhansali and her performance as Paro is probably what really made people know Aish as an Actress with a capital A. She had a lot to live up too, a classic novel, and a star like Shah Rukh Khan and she shined. There are so many great scenes of hers in the film, but the two we want to highlight are in the song ‘Hamesha Tumko Chaha’, she literally spoke with her eyes, beautiful. Of course, you can’t write about Aish and Devdas and not talk about the ‘Dola Re Dola’ dance with Madhuri Dixit. Two of the best dancers in Bollywood, dancing together, in gorgeous costumes to a great song… need I say more?

Have to sneak in one more Jodhaa Akbar moment; there is the scene were she watches from behind a curtain as he practices with his sword, no shirt. So much was said in that scene with her eyes… and we quite agreed with everything she said though she spoke not a word.

For Guru, it was really impossible for us to pick one scene because she was so good. So, we will just say watch Guru!

Hrithik’s Best

His debut performance in Kaho Na Pyaar Hai created such a huge sensation that has not been seen since. He recently said that at the first screening, on the way in, a few people said, ‘oh you are the boy in the movie’, but then three hours later I could not leave the theater because of the mob of fans wanting to get close to me. Besides looking so fine and acting so well, it was his dancing that got the fans swooning. Have a look at the scene with Ameesha Patel, a club and Hrithik’s moves in ‘Ek Pal Ka Jeena’ and you can see why he needed a police escort.

When talking about Hrithik’s best performances or scenes we have to talk about Koi Mil Gaya. I remember watching the film and it wasn’t until he was walking down the street in the village that all of a sudden I realised that Rohit was the hunky Hrithik Roshan. He got so inside the character as the child like Rohit that I did not even recognize him. I actually fast-forwarded to the credits to make sure I was right. That tour de force performance is out of this world (pun intended).

Another film that showed Hrithik’s talent of becoming so lost in a character you really don’t see him is Lakshya. His change between the lazy boy to the military man is phenomenal. The scene where he points to the mountain peak, his lakshya, was full of power in all its quietness. We also have to mention the slightly odd but totally cool choreography for ‘Main Aisa Kyun Hoon’ in Lakshya, this sequence firmly established Hrithik as one of the best dancers in any wood.

An unforgettable scene is Hrithik’s showdown with Sanjay Dutt at the end of Mission Kashmir – the merciless fight between them and then the crucial moment when Hrithik realizes that his father (Sanjay) had been right and he had been deceived and misled by the terrorists. Intense and fraught with tension.

Though not as popular a film, there is a scene in Yaadein that showed off Hrithik’s talent as an actor. She…Kareena… just broke his heart and his monologue outside, the way he says ‘theek hai’ and his hand shaking was brill, it broke the audiences heart too to watch him. I also have to mention the dance sequence in the rain, which comes in the middle of the song ‘Aye Dil Dil Ki Duniya’. It is only 44 seconds, but it is a full of feeling, pain and fabulous choreography and is one of my favorite Hrithik dance sequences, ever.

We mentioned Dhoom 2 before but we have to single out Hrithik’s performance in the film. Nobody could play a thief as cool as Hrithik. He was perfect in every caper and every second playing Mr. A, even dressed as the Queen!

Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham is full of great Hrithik-ness but the scene when he enters SRK’s house in London after so many years being apart – the look, the wiping of the tear…VAH!

This was really fun to write and we hope you enjoyed reading it as well! It will be interesting to see if any of the scenes be it together or separate from Guzaarish will be included on a list like this in the future! From the promos we have a feeling it will. Guzaarish opens on November 19th!

Aishwarya Rai, who once again teams up with Sanjay Leela Bhansali in Guzaarish, says they share a strange connection. The beautiful actress also says that the sensitive film helped the whole team reconnect with the goodness inside them.

“We are so strangely connected that we can communicate so much in silence. You can’t bring down the experience of working with Sanjay in one word, sentence or a paragraph. Sanjay can’t be contained in a word. We all say he is a genius, multi-faceted, but actually he is a real artiste. He sings, he breaks into dance, he loves music and he is very intense,” Aishwarya told IANS in an interview.

Guzaarish being her third film with Bhansali after Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam (1999) and Devdas(2002), the actress reveals that she has always felt being an important character in his films and not just the lead heroine.

“In his film, everyone is a character integral to his narrative and it’s a pleasure working with him. You always feel that you are in a team. I experienced that in Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam, I experienced that in Devdas, I experienced that in Guzaarish,” said Aishwarya, who plays a nurse to actor Hrithik Roshan’s character of a paraplegic in Guzaarish.

The actress refrains from saying that intense roles are harder than playing the typical Bollywood heroine. Citing her last two films with Hrithik – Dhoom2 (2006) and Jodhaa Akbar (2008), Aishwarya says her roles were equally intricate to the genres of both the films.

“I have done a lot of intense films, lesser comedy films, and lesser commercially typical heroine films and yet I say all could be equally easier or tough. When you go without make-up, wear a sari, suddenly that role becomes more intense and just because you put make-up, wear dresses and do hair styles the role becomes frivolous…I think it’s unfair to compartmentalise creativity like that. How you pose for the camera is also a craft.

“In Dhoom we had to look smashing in every frame, the character’s incidental in terms of acting nuances, but everything had to look perfect. That’s also a method of the craft.

“In Jodhaa Akbar we were doing a history together, but in every point while we were working with the detailing and authenticity with a director like Ashutosh Gowariker, we brought that in. It always played in our mind that it shouldn’t look that today’s kids are donning historical costumes. That needed a certain kind of craft,” Aishwarya explained.

In Guzaarish, Hrithik plays a paraplegic and “yes, I am playing a caretaker nurse, but within that we had to bring in the story that Sanjay really wants to tell and at the same time we have to be honest to our character in terms of expressing our inter-personal relations,” Aishwarya said.

Asked if through the journey of making the film, she had subtly evolved as a better human being, she said: “The whole team felt that. Everyone has goodness in him or her. But everyone has experiences which help you connect or reconnect with the goodness in you or the goodness you wish to share. This film has been a very positive film for the whole team because of the intensity of the genre and the sensitivity of its nature.”

Aishwarya Rai, who plays a ‘typical’ girl of the 1970s in the retro comedy ” Action Replayy”, says she didn’t try to imitate any particular actress, but picked from the looks and mannerisms of all reigning heroines of that era.

“There isn’t any particular actor whom I followed. In terms of visual styling, make-up and hair, there are lots of actresses from that time. There is no signature reference of any particular actor of that time. It’s a collage of all actors,” Aishwarya, 37, told IANS in an interview.

Preceded by serious roles in period films like ” Umrao Jaan” (2006) and ” Jodhaa Akbar” (2008), it was the word ‘retro’ that caught her attention when the film was offered to her.

Aishwarya reveals that “Action Replayy” was originally a play by the film’s director Vipul Shah himself, and he did not deviate much from the original script.

“It’s wonderful that I had so much of period films to do and yet they are all different. When Vipul said he wanted to do a retro film, the word retro was quite catchy. He didn’t call it historical era, period piece, pre-independence, he called it retro era,” she said.

“The moment you say retro, we all go into the 70′s. I instantly knew it was different,” she said.

“It’s a fun genre. Vipul was very clear about the film he was making. It was a play that he made several years ago. He was very clear in his narrative, and didn’t want to change anything except when most necessary. Of course, we improvised, but not that much, because Vipul was clear about what each character was supposed to do,” Aishwarya said.

The actress said though it’s a comedy film, she got enough scope to exhibit her acting skills.

“This film gave me the opportunity to do something. We have pushed the envelope even in the comedy genre, where we have revisited another era. Of course, visually there are aspects of styling, make-up and costume, and there are nuances in acting. As my character is very boisterous in the beginning of the film and then becomes mellow and feminine, we have spoofed it in the acting style of that time,” said Aishwarya.

Did she ask for tips from her parents-in-law Amitabh and Jaya Bachchan?

“No, I didn’t sit with Ma or Paa because, like Paa has always said, your work speaks volumes. You need not sit with them and literally speak. You have their films to refer to,” she said.

Aishwarya feels her career has come full circle in the past two years as she is doing films with directors she worked with in her initial days.

“I am thankful to get such good roles in my career. It’s a blessing and there are lots of very good memories and they were fulfilling,” she said.

Another hairy tale for you. Only this time it’s the hero who’s tangled in the tale. During an interview Aishwarya Rai Bachchan revealed that getting into the ‘hair’ of her retro character in Action Replay, was tougher for Akshay Kumar than it was for her.

“I was happy that for a change, even the actor had to spend hours with his hair-piece. It is usually the actress who has to go through that. I have worked in many movies where the lead actor has a character arc, which transforms, and even goes from young to old. Like Abhishek in Guru and Hrithik in Jodhaa Akbar, where he spent hours getting into the look of his character.

Akshay took so long to set his hair piece right for his retro-look that he said, ‘I will never complain when actresses take long to get ready for the shoot. Now I know what it feels.’ In fact, when we were shooting, the temperature was high, and he had quite a hard time with the wig,” explains Aishwarya. Well, thank your stars it’s only wig woes, lovelies. There are some stars who are coping with the ‘root’ (read: hair) of the problem. What about them, huh?

Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and Hrithik Roshan carry their chemistry forward after “Dhoom 2″ and “Jodhaa Akbar” in Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s ” Guzaarish”, and it looks ‘sizzling’ right from the start!

This first look from the film has Ash lighting up and Hrithik looking on, in a charmingly old-world setting. But we wonder how the Bachchan bahu’s cigarette act – that too with Roshan Junior – will be received, considering her fleeting smooch with Hrithik in “Dhoom 2″, even before she officially became the Bachchan bahu, reportedly had Abhishek in a fit and the khandaan asking for the scene to be removed. And movies with smoking scenes having run into rough waters with the authorities earlier (health ministry, Censor Board, et al), let’s see if this scene hits the screens at all! Meanwhile, Ash’s lip service with Hrithik continues…

The crackling screen chemistry between Hrithik Roshan and Aishwarya Rai was evident once again in Sanjay Leela Bhansaali’s ” Guzaarish”, the first look of which was revealed here Thursday. After “Dhoom 2″ and “Jodhaa Akbar”, they seem set to create magic on celluloid once more.

The two teamed up for the first time in the 2006 hit action thriller “Dhoom 2″. From critics to audiences, everyone raved about their on-screen chemistry and the two repeated the same in the historical romance “Jodhaa Akbar”.

The teaser of the film, co-produced by UTV Motion Pictures and Bhansali, was extremely impressive thanks to brilliant cinematography and interesting music by the director himself.

Hrithik, continuing his long hair and beared look from “Kites”, looked attractive in the teaser, while Aishwarya exuded elegance and panache.

The look of the film is artistic and creates an old world charm.

In the film, Hrithik plays a magician suffering from paraplegia , while Aishwarya will be seen as nurse who is estranged from her husband. Releasing Nov 19, the film will reportedly touch the controversial issue of mercy killing.

With the failure of “Saawariya” at the box office, “Guzaarish” might do wonders for the director. At least the first look suggests so.

The promos of Aishwarya Rai and Hrithik Roshan starrer ‘Guzaarish’, scheduled to be launched yesterday, have been put on hold. Buzz has it that the promo had a scene where Aishwarya was seen smoking.

It was called-off at the last moment believing that this scene can create a bad impact on the viewers.

According to a little birdie, “Agreed, Aishwarya has never been shown smoking on screen. But it’s not a sequence propagating smoking. Everyone who has seen it so far has reacted very positively to it.”

Storyline of ‘Guzaarish’
Directed by ace director Sanjay Leela Bhansali, the story of the movie completely revolves around a married nurse (Aishwarya) and a quadriplegic, wheel chair-using patient Ethan (Hrithik Roshan).

Ethan suffers from impairment of the motor and sensory functions of his limbs. The nurse develops an intimate bond with the hero.

Reportedly, the duo will be singing for the film together. Surprisingly, the song has been composed by Bhansali himself.

Hrithik-Aish pair up for the second time
The duo, Hrithik and Aishwarya have paired up for the second time after their blockbuster flick ‘Jodhaa Akbar’ (2008).

Besides, it is the third film of Aishwarya with director Sanjay Leela Bhansali since she did ‘Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam’ (1999) and ‘Devdas’ (2002).

With the release of We Are Family, the trailer of director Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s film Guzaarish was also supposed to be launched. The buzz is that it was pulled off at the last minute because of a scene which shows the film’s lead actress Aishwarya Rai smoking.

Showing someone puffing on screen requires censor clearance in India. In Guzaarish, Aishwarya plays a nurse, and showing a celebrity of her status puffing away can create a bad influence on her fans.

According to a source, “Agreed, Aishwarya has never been shown smoking on screen. But it’s not a sequence propagating smoking. Everyone who has seen it so far has reacted very positively to it.” As per a UTV official they don’t see any ‘trouble’ over the cigarette-smoking scene.

The movie which has Hrithik Roshan and Aishwarya coming together after the superhit Jodhaa Akbar is up for November release. Now, we hear that its promo will be out with Anjaana Anjaani on September 24.