Weekend vibes: Rajinikanth meets R Madhavan & scientist Nambi Narayanan, honours duo for 'Rocketry'

Covid was a challenging time for the Indian film industry. Production house Yash Raj Films (YRF) has high hopes for its pandemic releases, but its four consecutive releases with big stars bombed at the box-office. The releases were made available on Amazon Prime Video (as part of a licensing deal) within a month.

The much-awaited sequel, 'Bunty Aur Babli 2', released last year in November but failed to impress the audience. Directed by Varun V Sharma, the film saw Rani Mukerji return for the second part while Saif Ali Khan portrayed Bunty's character. The film, which also saw Siddhant Chaturvedi and Sharvari Wagh in pivotal roles, managed to barely make Rs 12 crore at the box-office.

The Ranveer Singh-starrer 'Jayeshbhai Jordaar' is a story of a father who goes to great lengths to protect his pregnant wife and unborn child. The social comedy on female foeticide didn't receive the love director Divyang Thakkar had thought of and managed to earn a lifetime collection of Rs 16.59 crore.

With a collection of a little over Rs 68 crore, YRF's 'Samrat Prithviraj' tried its best to hold the ground after the June 3 release but failed to prove itself. Despite the tax-free status in some states, the movie which had Akshay Kumar in the lead was a dampener after being made on a budget of Rs 200 crore.

The Akshay Kumar-starrer headed for its digital release in a month. The movie was made available to Amazon Prime Video subscribers in Hindi, Tamil and Telugu on July 1. Directed by Chandraprakash Dwivedi, the film features Manushi Chillar, Sanjay Dutt, Sonu Sood, Ashutosh Rana and Sakshi Tanwar.

A summer wedding, baby news and endless promotions didn't seem to help Ranbir Kapoor's 'Shamshera'. The film, which is struggling to reach the Rs 50 crore-mark one week after its release, has faced harsh rejection from the audience.

The harsh criticism made director Karan Malhotra pen an emotional note for his labour of love 'Shamshera'. After tanking at the box-office, 'Shamshera' is expected to release on Amazon Prime Video four weeks after its release in Hindi, Telugu and Tamil.

This year, there's still time for YRF (In pic: Aditya Chopra) to redeem itself with some releases - Vijay Krishna Acharya's 'The Great Indian Family' and Siddharth P Malhotra-directorial 'Maharaja'. While Acharya has films like 'Dhoom 3' and 'Thugs of Hindostan' to his credit, Malhotra has worked on big banner films such as 'We Are Family' and 'Hichki'.

'The Great Indian Family' will star Vicky Kaushal and Manushi Chhillar in the lead role. On the other hand, 'Maharaja' will see 'Jayeshbhai Jordaar'-starrer Shalini Pandey, Sharvari Wagh of 'Bunty Aur Babli 2' fame, and Jaideep Ahlawat who became a household name 'Paatal Lok' in pivotal roles.