J.P.Dutta’s LOC Kargil 4 long hours ever made film with 33 heros proved debacle at box-office

J.P.Dutta’s LOC Kargil 4 long hours ever made film with 33 heros proved debacle at box-office

Veteran Filmmaker J.P.Dutta’s LOC Kargil was the longest Hindi film ever made with a duration of 4 hours and 15 minutes. The film was released in 2003 and was one of the biggest Indian films of the time, bringing in several actors from across India to retell the story of Indian Army’s triumph in the Kargil War.

Amplifying on the blueprint of war films set by Haqeeqat and his own hit Border, JP Dutta determined to narrate the story of every major gallantry award winner of the army from the Kargil War. The film had nearly three dozen protagonists, for which Dutta hired 33 actors from across India including Sanjay Dutt, Ajay Devgn, Saif Ali Khan, Abhishek Bachchan, Nagarjuna, and Akshaye Khanna, along with character actors like Manoj Bajpayee, Ashutosh Rana, Sudesh Berry, Raj Babbar, Mohnish Behl, and Avtar Gill. Along with them were over a dozen leading actresses, Rani Muerji, Kareena Kapoor, Raveena Tandon, Esha Deol, and many others. Yet, this star-studded ensemble ultimately tanked at the box-office.

The failure for LOC Kargil was that director JP Dutta tried to tell so many stories instead of focussing on just a few. The film received negative reviews, which impacted on the word of mouth. To put in simple word, the film underperformed.
Produce on a massive budget (at the time) of Rs 33 crore, it grossed only Rs 31 crore worldwide and less than Rs 20 crore net in India, making it a massive box office failure.

The failure impacted on the careers of many of the young actors, although big stars sailed through. Actors like Karan Nath, Armaan Kohli, Puru Raajkumar, Shahzad Khan, Amar Upadhyay, Bikram Saluja, Vineet Sharma, Deepak Jethi, Priya Gill, Akanksha Malhotra, and Akbar Naqvi saw their careers hit a roadblock after LOC Kargil. Many of them continued to work but did not attain the kind of success they would have hoped for.

Likewise, Ranbir Kapoor starrer Animal is well over 3 hours long. In the time of OTT boom and shortened attention spans, many are calling this duration a gamble.

However, there was a time when a 3-hour duration was the norm for most Hindi films and anything over that was considered lengthy. And a few Hindi films even flirted with the four-hour mark in terms of their theatrical release cuts.
The longest Hindi film of all time was over four hours long, packed 33 heroes in it, and still went on to bea flop at the box office.

News Edit K.V.Raman