Anurag Kashyap calls box office flop Bhavesh Joshi Superhero ‘best Hindi superhero film’, wishes he was a regional director: ‘Films would have reached more people’

When asked why the film didn’t resonate with the audience at the time of its release, Kashyap admitted that the answer isn’t simple. “I don’t know. The only thing I can say is, as a filmmaker, Vikram Motwane is still probably one of the best filmmakers in the country. And maybe a lot of his films have not worked at the box office the way they should have. And the worst thing to say for that would be, ‘he is ahead of his time.’ Because, you know, I’ve heard that myself many times. It’s an excuse. Somebody said, ‘you know why films work? Because of magic.’ And you know what that magic is? You only find out when the film is a hit. But the thing is, Vikram’s films stay relevant. They will forever stay relevant, and they will grow with time. And today, when you look back, we’ve made so many superhero films, Bhavesh Joshi, to me, is still the best superhero Hindi film.”

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He also addressed the larger industry ecosystem that, he feels, played a role in the film’s underperformance. According to him, it’s not just the audience but the entire system of distribution and exhibition that remains heavily star-driven. “Sometimes we all sit together and think audience would haven’t lost anything if they would have watched it when it released. But audience is very star-driven. And more than them, it’s the market that is very star-driven. The problem is that when the film doesn’t only reach audience, then how would they really watch it? My life-long pain has been if I was a regional filmmaker I would have gotten the equal number of shows and screens and then my films would have reached more people. But being a Hindi filmmaker, there is an exhibition and distribution system that decides where and how many shows will this film have and what not. So that’s not in our hands, and I don’t know whose hands it is.”

Anurag Kashyap’s latest film Nishaanchi is currently playing in theatres.