Exclusive | Siddharth Anand calls Boycott Pathaan narrative ‘unnecessary, irritating’: ‘I am sure they are also enjoying the film at some theatre’

Siddharth spills beans on how Pathaan crushed Boycott Bollywood narrative, how the Hindi film industry should not follow herd mentality of mounting just action films and if he will ever return to rom-coms. Edited excerpts:

How does it feel to read that you are the biggest action director in Bollywood today?

I am a little numb. I think I will cherish it after a little more time when I look back at this phase. Right now, every day there is some new record tumbling. I still haven’t reached the finishing line to enjoy the victory. I am still running the race. I know I am coming first when I look back, but I still want to cross that finishing line. That’s when it will actually sink in, when the dust will settle.

The night before Pathaan was mixed. I was anxious, I didn’t sleep. I kept waiting for the 6am show to hear audience reactions. Obviously, we had shown it to our friends, cast and crew and everyone loved it. But I wanted to discount 150% of that because they are supposed to love it, they have worked on the film, they are well-wishers, they will love it. So that night was a mixed bag.

Pathaan is so much fun also because its writing (screenplay by Shridhar Raghavan, dialogues by Abbas Tyrewala) was extremely strong. Was that something you were particular about?

I have become, lately, in my last seven-eight years of making films. Earlier, I used to make films with a lot of abandon. They were smaller films, but post Bang Bang the kind of films I did had a lot at risk. In order to play safe, we went back to basics. To get that paper right even in action film, then you have the result in War and Pathaan. Of course we have big stars, great songs, superb action, everything is mounted well — but the emotion has to hit home. It is the paper, everything else now I take for granted– the garnishing, the scale. It is the paper I am insecure about.

Pathaan came at a time when the Hindi film industry really needed a monstrous hit. Were you never under pressure to deliver big?

I should have been under pressure, but I am not that personality, I don’t like to take stress. I don’t let it get to to me. For me, my films matter to me more than what’s happening around. So be it the boycott calls, or the narrative that films are not working, the conversation that pandemic has shifted the audience’s taste… It was white noise. I am too insulated.

The film also gave a response to the boycott Bollywood narrative online. Was there ever a point it did get to you?

It (the narrative) was unnecessary. It irritated me. You want to go out, answer them that, ‘Bro, come and see the film. There is nothing offensive in it.’ The fact that you can’t do that is irritating. We knew for a fact that when the audience will come and see they will say, ‘What a joke’ the narrative was. We were confident, it was just a matter of time. We wanted them also to come and see it and I am sure at some theatre somewhere they are also enjoying the film! The audience gave the answer, they spoke, they came in large numbers on the first day. They knew what they (people against the film) were trying to say was not making sense.

You have emerged as the big action director; you didn’t start out like that though. You were the rom-com guy. How do you look at your own evolution?

It has been organic. My second film, Ta Ra Rum Pu had action, top car racing. We did a lot of action which was very new for its time, the kind of car action we did was all real. I have done that 16-17 years ago what other action directors are doing right now: tumbling cars and blowing up cars. For me, it was organic to get into action eventually. I was blessed that it came way, I didn’t have to seek it, when Fox Star reached out to me to remake Knight and Day, otherwise it would have taken a little longer for me to get into action. I had just finished Anjana Anjani and was thinking of my next rom-com. It is just destiny.

Have the rom coms completely taken a break?

Not break, it’s completely broken! For now, at least. I am enjoying this. I am a kid in a candy store. I am getting to do action with the best teams, best action directors in the world, best production houses.

But even your rom-coms were mounted big, songs were always shot lavishly, everything in those films was massive.

I think it is a personality issue. In my head I feel I am larger than life, as a person. I can easily take center stage in a party, within my friends I can be a leader, decide where can we go for holidays, or for dinner. That’s really my personality. That inherently seeps into my writing, direction, staging of a scene and now into my action.

Were you always fond of action?

It wasn’t that all I wanted to direct were action films. I like to watch action films, loved First Blood, Rocky, Terminator, Cliffhanger, Mission Impossible, all these thrilling cinematic experiences. I started loving Bond films when Daniel Craig took over. In India, we never had action films. Amitabh Bachchan used to do it, Suniel Shetty later became the action hero of the country, but after that there was nobody. We never had action films so my reference points were always Hollywood films. The key to make a good action movie is emotion. That has to drive the action. Any action sequence that I do, I make sure that there is some emotion driving it. That’s the recipe.

What’s the way forward for action films in India? Where do you think we can go from here?

We have to work hard on paper and be cognizant. We have a herd mentality, now everyone will try to make action films. Post War, every actor and director wanted to make action films. Now more so after Pathaan they are going to think that nothing else, but action films are going to get audiences back to cinema halls. But mounting action films is so expensive, tough to write. I just hope people are clever and prudent enough to not rush into things and do it thinking that a film will do well if you just put action on screen. It is tough to come up with inventive action scenes. Like right now I am making Fighter and already thinking of Hrithik’s entry!