"This Is Your Deewar": Here's What Anil Kapoor Told Director Siddharth Anand About 'Fighter'
Siddharth Anand has reflected on why 'Fighter' has not been able to repeat the success of 'War' and 'Pathaan'.
Director Siddharth Anand tasted global success with 'War' and 'Pathaan', and the ace filmmaker would have been hoping for a hat-trick with his latest release 'Fighter', starring Hrithik Roshan, Deepika Padukone and Anil Kapoor. However, it is fair to say that the director has not been able to create the same magic with 'Fighter'. The new Hindi movie started off well, but saw a sharp decline in its collection during the weekdays. In the latest Bollywood movie news, Siddharth Anand has reflected on why the Hrithik and Deepika-starrer has not been able to repeat the success of 'War' (Hrithik Roshan, Tiger Shroff and Vaani Kapoor), and 'Pathaan' (Shah Rukh Khan, Deepika and John Abraham).
While talking to Galatta Plus, Siddharth said, "Our expectations as makers have become a little unrealistic. I am talking about myself also, having delivered Pathaan just one year ago. We need to keep our expectations in check and align them with the product. Also, it was a working day."
"Thursday is considered mid-week. For instance, we held a special screening for friends and family on Thursday, and whoever we texted and asked, at least 40% of them asked, ‘Is the show in the evening?’ So, that time, it hit us how will people bunk work or bunk school and come in the morning," he added.
For the unversed, 'Pathaan' did a business of Rs 57 crore on the opening day of its release, and eventually the lifetime collection was more than Rs 540 crore in India.
Talking about 'Fighter', Siddharth Anand further said, "Another thing is the genre. Fighter is a huge leap for a filmmaker. It’s a space that is unexplored and absolutely new. It has no reference point for the audience. They are like, ‘What are these planes doing?'”
“There is a huge percentage of our country, I would say, 90 per cent, who have not flown in planes, who have not been to an airport, so how would they know what’s happening in the movie? This is my dissection. They felt this is a little alien. They didn’t understand what kind of exhilaration they are supposed to feel in the air action, so there is a certain initial disconnect. But once you enter the theatre, you realise this is such a basic film," he added.
Siddharth Anand also revealed that Anil Kapoor told him that 'Fighter' will be remembered for a long time and he quoted the example of Amitabh Bachchan’s 'Sholay' and 'Deewar', which released close to each other, just like 'Pathaan' and 'Fighter'.
“When Anil Kapoor sir saw Fighter, he came and told me, ‘Bachchan had these two films come very close to each other, Sholay and Deewar, this is your Deewar. This is going to get you all the respect and adulation and will be respected for a long time over the years.’ I didn’t understand it then, but he said, ‘Just keep it with you, this is your Deewar,'” Siddharth shared.
For the unversed, 'Sholay' was a commercial blockbuster, however 'Deewar' gained prominence over the years.
Talking about 'Fighter', the new Hindi film is presented by Viacom18 Studios in association with Marflix Pictures, is the third collaboration between Hrithik Roshan and Siddharth Anand after ‘Bang Bang’ and ‘War’. The new Hindi movie is also the third collaboration between Deepika Padukone and Siddharth Anand after ‘Bachna Ae Haseeno’ and ‘Pathaan’.
Earlier, Siddharth Anand admitted that the success of ‘Pathaan’, starring Shah Rukh Khan, Deepika Padukone, and John Abraham, has set the bar too high for him and he is indeed feeling the “pressure of the expectations” from his audience.
