Aanand L Rai admits he ‘faltered’ with Akshay Kumar’s Raksha Bandhan: ‘I judged my audience, which I’ve never done….’

Aanand L Rai believed that with Raksha Bandhan, he needed to cater to the two-tier, three-tier, B-town audiences. “This is the kind of a story which should be told simply. I used to take a flight with my story in which I’d discover myself. In this case, I thought I knew what I’m doing. If you look at the film, it was beautifully formatted, which never worked for me,” the filmmaker said on Galatta Plus.

Rai explained that he went wrong at the inception level itself as his reason for telling the story of Raksha Bandhan was wrong. “The reason of getting onto the floors was wrong. It had nothing to do with the success or the failure. I’ve failed with the films with which I’ve taken that flight. Here, the problem was that before I started, my reason was wrong.”

The filmmake added that Raksha Bandhan was a “blunder” from his end. “The problem was not with the script. The problem was with the director and the expectation from this director. If you ask me, did I enjoy the process? I enjoyed with Akshay sir. He was real. He was performing with total belief. But maybe this director’s heartbeat wasn’t with that rhythm. Somewhere, it didn’t land the way I was looking at it,” said Rai.

Aanand L Rai is best known for delivering hits like Raanjhanaa (2013) and the Tanu Weds Manu franchise. However, he’s also delivered a major disaster in Zero (2018), starring Shah Rukh Khan. Seven years after that debacle, he’s finally bounced back with Tere Ishk Mein. Co-produced by Colour Yellow Productions and Bhushan Kumar’s T-Series, the film has earned Rs 111.50 crore within 16 days at the domestic box office so far.

Also Read — Tere Ishk Mein: Dhanush-Kriti Sanon’s love story is so toxic, even therapy can’t save it

With Tere Ishk Mein, Rai reunited with actor Dhanush and music composer AR Rahman, with whom he’s worked in Raanjhanaa and the 2021 romantic drama Atrangi Re, which dropped directly on JioHotstar during the Covid-19 pandemic. Tere Ishk Mein has been written by Rai’s frequent collaborator, Himanshu Sharma.