Kabir Khan accepts Chandu Champion’s box office opening ‘lower’ than expected, is hopeful to cash in on word of mouth: ‘We believe in the film’

In an interview with Bollywood Hungama, Kabir Khan was asked about the film’s first day collections and if he has been able to figure out what went wrong. “It is too early to say what are the reasons but post COVID it has become very difficult to analyse logically what is happening in terms of the behaviour. The opening was definitely lower than what we all were expecting because of the tremendous response to the trailer, to the song units that were out. So one would expect a slightly healthier opening but that didn’t pan out the way we wanted to.”

The filmmaker, known for blockbusters like Bajrangi Bhaijaan and Ek Tha Tiger, both headlined by Salman Khan, said the team is happy with the way the film is “growing” and with the “incredible” word of mouth it is receiving. “We still believe in the film strongly, we are happy with the film and are inundated with the love. When you make a film on Murlikant Petkar some of that attitude has got to rub off on you, so we have our heads held high, the film will overcome the hurdles the way Murlikant did.”

 

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Kabir Khan, who made his debut 18 years ago with Kabul Express, said he has not reached a “Zen stage” yet but his career highs and lows have taught him to always look at the larger picture and never be in a haste to judge a film simply by its opening weekend.

“But I have reached that stage where I have realised that opening weekend is not the time to decide what has happened to your film. It is the longevity of a film that ultimately gets judged. I have seen too many blockbusters that have a life of a week in people’s minds. I have seen a lot of films that don’t do wonders at the box office but are spoken about for years to come.

“We have received tremendous love from critics and the audience for Chandu Champion and now we are keeping our fingers crossed that slowly and slowly, because that is the trend these days, we keep building up with word of mouth at the box office and take Murlikant Petkar’s film to the finish line, the way he did in his real life,” he added.