Bollywood folklore has often stated that the yardstick for the worst film in the industry is the universally panned ‘Ram Gopal Varma Ki Aag’, which released in 2007. That was until 2020 saw the release of ‘Coolie No. 1’ on Amazon Prime Video.
The Varun Dhawan-Sara Ali Khan starrer, which released on the streaming platform on Christmas Day after the pandemic brought down the shutters on theatre releases of Bollywood films in 2020, has received widespread criticism from fans and critics.
The film now sits on an IMDB rating of 1.3 out of 10. The film and TV database has generated the rating after viewers gave the David Dhawan directorial a thumbs down.
While a week has yet to pass since the film’s release at time of writing this, the current rating has firmly placed ‘Coolie No. 1’ even below ‘Ram Gopal Varma’s Aag’, which sits at 1.7. Other widely panned films that actually have a higher rating than the 2020 release includes 2013’s ‘Himmatwala’ (at 1.7) and Salman Khan’s ‘Race 3’ (at 1.9).
Incidentally, on December 26, Dhawan had put up an appreciation post on his Instagram, thanking fans for making his film number one is some category. “Thank u for the [love emoji] And thank u for making #coolieno1 the highest viewed film on Christmas Day across all ott [over the top or web] platforms.”
Dhawan has already moved on to film his upcoming ‘Jug Jug Jiyo’ with Kiara Advani, while Khan is busy shooting for ‘Atrangi Re’ with Akshay Kumar and Dhanush.
‘Coolie No. 1’ is a remake of the 1995 Govinda and Karisma Kapoor starrer, which was also directed by David Dhawan.
Image Credit: GN Archives
Some of the fan comments on Twitter have slated the new version. Poorvi, who goes by the @Akcentgirl handle, posted: “Please bollywood needs to control their mania for remakes! What worked 25 years ago may not necessarily work today as well. Audience has changed and so have our choices. Couldn’t bear this movie even for 15 mins. Woman getting face massage @Varun_dvn I expect better from you! [sic]”
Ravi Vyas tweeted: “After watching #CoolieNo1 one thing is confirmed. “Saara can’t act”. Varun overacting as usual.”
Meanwhile, those of you who missed out on watching ‘Ram Gopal Varma Ki Aag’, the Amitabh Bachchan and Ajay Devgn starrer was a contemporary remake of the cult classic, ‘Sholay’.