Apoorva Lakhia reflects on Zanjeer flop, says Hindi audience was perhaps not ready for South star: ‘If Ram Charan does Hindi film now…’

Director Apoorva Lakhia revealed he was made to return signing amounts after delivering a flop. A producer demanded that he return an expensive watch that he'd gifted him.

By: Entertainment Desk

New Delhi | May 27, 2023 07:30 PM IST

3 min read

A still from Ram Charan Teja's Zanjeer. (file photo)

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Filmmaker Apoorva Lakhia looked back at the critical and commercial failure of the Zanjeer remake, which served as the Bollywood debut of Ram Charan. He said in an interview that the movie had all the necessary ingredients of a blockbuster, and when it didn’t work, it seemed as if the industry turned his back on him.

In an interview with Siddharth Kannan, Apoorva said that after a film flops, he tends to analyse why this happened. But sometimes, a film flops even though there was nothing wrong with it. Talking about his 2013 remake of Amitabh Bachchan’s Zanjeer, he said, “I had the biggest star cast, I had the biggest platform. It didn’t work. Getting Ram Charan, getting Priyanka, getting Sanjay Dutt… You name it, we had it.”

Also read | Why Ram Charan didn’t do another Hindi film after Zanjeer: ‘It is all about the instinct…’

He continued, “Maybe people didn’t like the hero, maybe it was the wrong time to introduce a South Indian star (in Bollywood). Now, if Ram Charan comes and does a film in Hindi, he’s rocking. It’s unpredictable, but the main thing is to believe in yourself.”

Asked if directing high-profile flops affected his career, he said, “Yes, it has definitely happened. After Ek Ajnabee and Shootout at Lokhandwala, my two big hits, lot of producers came and offered me money. One producer gave me an expensive watch. But when my movie flopped, his assistant came and asked for the watch back. I returned it with the box. A lot of people asked for their money back, which I returned. Contractually, I wasn’t obligated to do this, because my contract said that I wouldn’t return the signing amount, but I would make a film for them instead. But if a producer doesn’t have confidence in you, then why should I force them to work with me?”

Apoorva is best known for his gritty crime movies. He is currently promoting the second season of the web series Crackdown. His last film was 2017’s Haseena Parkar, starring Shraddha Kapoor. Ram Charan became a rage across the country after the success of RRR last year.

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