Anil Kapoor advised Ajay Devgn to not release Phool Aur Kante against Lamhe, assumed it wouldn’t stand a chance: ‘Mat aao tum log’

In an interview with The Lallantop, Rohit revealed, “Uss film (Phool Aur Kaante) ka action bohot acha tha. Ajay sir kehte hai ye baat ki Anil sir khud aaye the unke paas ki mat aao tum log, kyunki Lamhe aa rahi thi same day… (The film’s action was very good. Ajay sir has told me that Anil sir went to him and advised him to not release the film on the same day because Lamhe was also releasing).”

 

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The filmmaker, whose recent OTT debut Indian Police Force aired on Prime Video, said that back in the day, two films clashing at the box office didn’t make as much noise as it does now.

Rohit continued, “So, Lamhe and Phool Aur Kaante released the same day. Back then, box office clashes weren’t a big deal. In fact, Anil sir had worked a lot with Veeru ji, and he advised them to not go up against Lamhe. He said that Ajay is like his younger brother.” Rohit added, “But then, Kuku ji said that it’s ok, we will proceed with the release. Lamhe will also work and our film will also work.

Phool Aur Kaante earned four times its budget and reportedly collected Rs 12 crore, a huge collection for those times. Whereas, Lamhe did an average business. Rohit further explained how the film marked the arrival of young action heroes in Bollywood.

“Phool Aur Kaante had a platinum jubilee. In that era, it used to be 25 weeks, 50 weeks, 100 weeks. At the same time, Akshay Kumar also rose to stardom, and Suniel Shetty,” he said.

Rohit and Ajay are best known for their Golmaal and Singham franchises. However, not many know at Rohit was the AD on Ajay’s 2000 debut production Raju Chacha, which was directed by the actor’s cousin Anil Devgn.

Even though it was Ajay’s dream project, the film didn’t work well at the box office. Recalling the reasons why it didn’t do well, Rohit said, “We faced a lot of losses on Raja Chacha. It was a very expensive film for those times.” Rohit added, “It was Ajay sir’s dream project and he was also the producer. Most of the actors who become producers are not very business-minded. They are passionate and don’t think about money.

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“It was his vision back then. At that time there were not many graphics, we had to put real sets. We shot in Ooty and Austria. We did a lot of shopping in Austria. He wanted to make a fairytale-ish world but it didn’t work,” he said.

Rohit and Ajay are reuniting with Singham Returns. The director-actor duo have so far collaborated on 10 films, with their first film being Rohit’s directorial debut, Zameen.