Vidhu Vinod Chopra slams industry peers for ‘spreading lies’ through marketing, inflating box office numbers: ‘I admit nobody went to watch Zero Se Restart’

Filmmaker Vidhu Vinod Chopra is known to speak his mind, and he didn’t hold back in a recent interview as he exposed the misdeeds of the film industry. He complained about the lies that are peddled through movie marketing, and the dishonest practice of producers buying tickets to their own movies to inflate box office figures. He said that he stays away from industry events because he doesn’t want to pollute his mind, and said that he has no interest in lying about the commercial performance of his new film, Zero Se Restart.

A feature-length behind-the-scenes look at last year’s 12th Fail, the film failed to draw crowds to theatres, and the filmmaker admitted as much in an interview with Dainik Bhaskar. He said, “Marketing these days is all lies. They pay influencers to say whatever they want them to say. All lies. Then, their shows are running empty, so they buy their own tickets and spread lies about the box office collections. I’m admitting honestly that my film was released yesterday, and very few people showed up. Nobody will admit on television that their film failed to open.”

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He said that he refuses to dilute his true identity, and said that he even spoke to his daughter about Zero Se Restart’s performance in theatres. “My daughter is studying in Stanford. I woke up this morning and was singing a song. I called her up and told her, ‘Nobody went to watch my film’. She said, ‘Do you want me to sympathise with you or get inspired by what you’re saying?’ I said, ‘I want you to get inspired’.”

Adding that word-of-mouth is the only true indicator of a film’s success, the filmmaker said that he prefers to stay away from industry events so as not to sully himself. “I don’t go out often. I don’t even go to receive awards. I want to protect myself from all the garbage. We are all born pure, and gradually, over time, we become impure. I want to avoid that.”

Starring Vikrant Massey in the role of a UPSC aspirant, 12th Fail emerged as a sleeper hit towards the end of 2023. The film made around Rs 70 crore at the box office, after opening to low numbers. Yet, it continued playing in theatres even after debuting on streaming and television.