(Laughs) Any festival is good for business. Families get together and want to be entertained with a ‘dhamaal’ movie. I should have three-four releases next year. Ek Tha Tiger will come after IPL but one of the others could open on Eid. If we’re not ready, we’ll move to Diwali. No stress!
With a worldwide gross of R110 crore, Bodyguard is a blockbuster but critics aren’t impressed. You can’t win them all, besides, in a population of 100 crore if four people are unhappy does it matter? One of them admitted to me that he’d gone wrong one too many times with the films he’d given four-five stars to while films like mine that merited one-two stars had worked well commercially.
Their opinion would matter if the equation was even 51-49 in their favour. Since that’s not the case, they should just make movies for themselves because the ‘aam janta’ goes to see a film ‘jo unke mood ko theek kar sake’ (that will put them in a good mood), not something dull and depressing. They should cry with joy. Preparing to go watching a film is a long-drawn out process. People don’t have the time or patience for heavy duty stuff. They come expecting to have fun, the way they would if they went to a nightclub.
Bodyguard is your biggest hit overseas, No 9 on the UK chart, just behind Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows that in eight weeks has grossed £122,000 from 342 locations as compared to your film that has already made £120,000 from 51 locations before the first week.
There you go! It’s also set a new Wednesday record, beating the one set by My Name Is Khan. It’s also poised to shatter Dabangg’s record in the Middle East (USD 1.7million gross) and the US (US $ 5 million gross). The common viewers, even abroad, think Bodyguard is a damn good film. Superb!
You’re taking active interest in your films, any plans of turning director? Not yet, may be once my fans are bored of seeing me as an actor. The aim now is to give kids something cute to giggle over, teens a hero and romance they’d want to live and older people nostalgia for what had been. Bas itna sa khwab hai, no flowery clichés.
Actor Imran Khan has been promoting his ‘bhaijaan’s’ film alongside his own film, Mere Brother Ke Dulhan. (Laughs) I invited Imran for a screening but he wanted to see the film in a regular theatre on the first day with the audience. His ‘mamu’ (uncle) Aamir (Khan) came for the show on Monday evening and he liked the film. So did a lot of others.
After the failure of Main Aur Mrs Khanna, it was said your pairing with Kareena Kapoor would never work commercially. Has Bodyguard broken the jinx and will we see a new hit ‘jodi’ now? I have never believed in tags like ‘panvati’ and ‘manhoos’ (bad omen). Kareena is a lovely and talented actor and if we come up with another challenging role that suits her, sure you will se us back together.
