Vicky Kaushal breaks silence on Sam Bahadur-Animal box office clash: ‘Ours was not a masala film… we knew it was a Test match’

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Vicky, however, went on to say that the team behind Sam Bahadur, helmed by Meghna Gulzar, was confident in their film’s ability to resonate with audiences through word-of-mouth promotion. He emphasized that a movie’s success is ultimately determined by its connection with viewers, regardless of its release timing. “If it would not click with people, it would not do well no matter when it released. People started talking about it more and more as the weeks went by (sic),” he added.

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The actor also expressed his delight at the fact that the buzz surrounding the film kept growing and noted that discussions on it continued to increase even in January. He commented, “We saw that through January, Sam shows kept going on, and that gives me tremendous happiness (sic).” The Masaan actor and Ranbir had previously worked together on Sanju, where both delivered outstanding performances. Ranbir also made a cameo appearance in Vicky’s Netflix film Love Per Square Foot.

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According to industry tracker Sacnilk, Sam Bahadur managed to earn Rs 130.30 crore worldwide, while Animal minted Rs 915 crore globally. “Despite the juggernaut of Ranbir Kapoor-starrer, Sam Bahadur managed to get the love of its target audience,” reported the website. At the 69th Filmfare Awards, the film received eight nominations, including Best Film (Critics), Best Actor and Best Actor (Critics) (both for Vicky).

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After completing a decade in Bollywood and delivering hits like Masaan, Uri: The Surgical Strike, Sanju, and Dunki, among others, when asked if he finally thinks that he has attained stardom, Vicky replied, by saying that the “line between popularity and stardom is blurring.”

“Now the most popular is the star. In actuality, a star is someone who is the reason people watch the film for, irrespective of whether it is good or bad. I do not think I have achieved that till now. If I do a film that, from the outset, people are not sold on, it will not do the numbers. They will wait, especially now that they know the film will come on OTT in seven to eight weeks,” Vicky added.