‘Virat Kohli watches my flop Dhol before matches to relax’: Priyadarshan says he’s ‘finished’ with comedies, is scared to make them

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He also mentioned that the failures of Dhol (2007) and Khatta Meetha (2010) affected him emotionally, though he is now glad those movies have found an audience on streaming platforms. “I loved both these films, but they didn’t work in theatres. But thanks to OTT, people are finally enjoying these films now. When I made Dhol, I really thought the film would do well. Now I am very happy when I see people like Virat Kohli and others say they watch Dhol before their cricket matches to relax. They even quote the dialogues from the movie to each other.”

While Virat Kohli has not publicly spoken about watching the Priyadarshan films, they have collaborated in the past. The filmmaker was roped in to direct an advertisement for IPL franchise Royal Challengers Bangalore featuring Virat Kohli, Chris Gayle and Shane Watson. He was so impressed with Virat’s acting skills that he had said that the cricketer could try his hand at acting in the future.

Calling Dhol one of his favourite movies from his repertoire, Priyadarshan went deeper into the film’s commercial failure in another interview. “Something I hate about Bollywood films is that, at least during that period, when you are trying something without a big star, it won’t get the appreciation it should. It’s only later that they would. That disappoints you. Dhol is now a cult movie,” he told Mashable India. He further pointed out that the only film that had an opposite result was Malamaal Weekly (2006), which worked big time despite not having any A-listers.

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Priyadarshan on why he likes to work with the same set of actors

During the interview, Priyadarshan also discussed why he keeps repeating his actors. “Akshay Kumar has a certain body language that I understand. The same can be said about Paresh Rawal and Rajpal Yadav as well. I really like the way they perform. They give exactly what I expect. It’s very difficult to perform humour, mainly because of the timing factor. Govinda has that (timing), and Shah Rukh Khan also does, to some extent. So, it’s all about giving them situations to perform.”

Pointing out that he has frequent actor collaborators only in comedies, he noted, “When it comes to humour, I am very much afraid that I can’t find actors whose timing is as good as the others. When I have these people, my job is very easy because I know how they will perform.” He further praised Akshaye Khanna as a “brilliant actor” who can excel in both comedic and serious roles. “He did a fantastic job in movies like Hulchul (2004) and Hungama (2003). I think both the Akshays bring me luck.”