As we enter Rohit Shetty’s plush green office in the suburb of Andheri, the Dilwale director is fielding congratulatory calls and messages on the box office success of his film. However, he admits that he’s been too busy to respond to them all, since he’d had quite the task on his hands, “lifting the ban (on the film) from everywhere”. In a chat with us, Rohit discusses the lack of critical acclaim for his brand of filmmaking and how that affects him, the pressure to meet box office numbers and why he just wants to be left alone to make his kind of films.
A lot of Rohit Shetty fans — leave aside the critics — have not liked Dilwale See, my film is a five to six-ticket film — it’s a family which watches the film. So the husband or wife may not like the film, but the children do. You have to deal with it that way.
The only thing I don’t like is that when I making or promoting the film, I am shouting from the rooftops — I am making a commercial family film. I am not claiming to make something that will change cinema. I am making a product that caters to children and family audiences and there’s nothing wrong in that.
Your films are all about the box office numbers. What is a Friday like for you, when your film releases It’s too much pressure... I remember during the Golmaal days, the film hadn’t opened well, but at that time I was quite relaxed. There were no eyes on me. Now I get really nervous about what will happen. But that only lasts three days and then I’m quite settled. The stakes are so high — and appreciation I won’t get — so everyone waits for the box office collection. Dilwale didn’t get a start, so I was worried about the film opening at first. But we holding strong even after losing so much of business.
You just said, ‘Appreciation I won’t get’ — have you made peace with that Yes, kind of. It’s a product that I am making and it is not liked by a few people. They like a particular cinema and I am not making that. I would love it if someday everyone loved my film, but I don’t see that happening. They don’t want to see me do the same thing repeatedly, and that’s okay.
Don’t you feel like pleasing the intellectuals I don’t know the market is such (that), I don’t want to take names, but some films that are critically acclaimed are not doing that great business. When I say ‘market’, I am talking about the audience. Dilwale didn’t open well because there was Bajirao Mastani and we had a ban to contend with, but on the Web, we’re ranked as having the third biggest opening this year. So what happened It is quite scary. There were great films this year — films that have worked with the critics but not with the audience and vice versa. We all need to sit and analyse what happened with the Indian market.
Over the past 11 years, what is it that drives you to make the same kind of cinema The audience I am catering to a particular kind of audience, which is large in number fortunately. They need that kind of cinema from me. We make so many films a year and there are people making different kinds of films. So leave me alone then, and let me make my kind of cinema.
Did you like any of your contemporaries’ films this year I want to see Tamasha. Imtiaz is a friend and I heard that Deepika and Ranbir are very good in the film. I also want to see Bajirao — again, I’ve heard that Deepika and Ranveer are good in it. But if I go for it right now, then people will take photos of me (in the theatre) and controversies will emerge. So next week, I’ll wear a cap and go for a screening because I have heard really good things about the movie. Deepika is a friend, she wished me luck for Dilwale. I really liked Piku, Badlapur and Aankhon Dekhi... It was a year of great films but not that kind of hits (sic). That’s what I am trying to understand. All of us filmmakers work very hard and we’re under a lot of pressure, so we need to come together and understand what’s going wrong.
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