Entertainment / Mon, 29 Jun 2026 News18

10 Top Heroes, 58 Different Sets, ₹5 Crore VFX, Yet THIS Film Couldn't Save A Starkid's Career

2 / 9 Armaan Kohli, son of veteran filmmaker Rajkumar Kohli, made his acting debut in the 1990s, but all the films he starred in tanked at the box office. ADVERTISEMENT3 / 9 Rajkumar Kohli got his big break as a director with the 1976 horror film Naagin. 4 / 9 When his son's films didn't work, Rajkumar Kohli thought of using the same formula. Following the success of Jaani Dushman (1979) and Raaj Tilak (1984), both known for their star-studded casts and grand scale, Kohli decided to make a multi-starrer titled Jaani Dushman in 2002. 6 / 9 Rajkumar Kohli proudly claimed that assembling 10 leading heroes in one film was unprecedented and credited the actors for agreeing to be part of the ambitious project.

Last Updated: June 29, 2026, 18:57 IST

1 / 9 A film made on a grand budget, shot across multiple sets, and starring about 10 top heroes—who would have thought it could flop at the box office? But it did. A movie that had ₹5 crore worth of VFX, was shot on 58 different sets, and featured a grand lineup including Sunny Deol, Suniel Shetty, and Manisha Koirala, among others, tanked at the box office.

2 / 9 Armaan Kohli, son of veteran filmmaker Rajkumar Kohli, made his acting debut in the 1990s, but all the films he starred in tanked at the box office. So, his father decided to use a formula that had once worked like magic for him.

3 / 9 Rajkumar Kohli got his big break as a director with the 1976 horror film Naagin. The film became the highest-grossing Hindi movie of the year, featuring an ensemble cast including Reena Roy, Sunil Dutt, Feroz Khan, Jeetendra, Sanjay Khan, Rekha, Mumtaz, Kabir Bedi, Vinod Mehra, Anil Dhawan, Yogeeta Bali, and Aruna Irani, among others.

4 / 9 When his son's films didn't work, Rajkumar Kohli thought of using the same formula. Following the success of Jaani Dushman (1979) and Raaj Tilak (1984), both known for their star-studded casts and grand scale, Kohli decided to make a multi-starrer titled Jaani Dushman in 2002.

5 / 9 The 2002 version of Jaani Dushman featured an impressive lineup of stars including Sunny Deol, Akshay Kumar, Suniel Shetty, Manisha Koirala, Arshad Warsi, Sonu Nigam, Aftab Shivdasani, Rambha, and Armaan Kohli.

6 / 9 Rajkumar Kohli proudly claimed that assembling 10 leading heroes in one film was unprecedented and credited the actors for agreeing to be part of the ambitious project.

7 / 9 The filmmaker revealed that while he spent over ₹5 crore on the film's VFX, which he believed would be among the most advanced seen in Indian cinema at the time, and shot the movie on 58 sets, he even changed Armaan's screen name to Munish Kohli, hoping it would bring him better luck.

8 / 9 Despite Rajkumar's confidence and the film's massive scale, Jaani Dushman: Ek Anokhi Kahaani received poor reviews upon release and turned out to be a major box-office failure.