Atul Kulkarni talks candidly about Laal Singh Chaddha’s failure at the box office.
Atul Kulkarni takes a look at the box office performance of Aamir Khan starrer Laal Singh Chaddha and how it fell short of expectations.
After carving a niche for himself as a remarkable and versatile actor, Atul Kulkarni made his debut as a writer with Laal Singh Chaddha (2022), the official adaptation of Tom Hanks’ iconic film Forrest Gump (1994). It was a remake. Made over a decade, the Aamir Khan starrer was one of the most anticipated films of last year. However, it opened to mixed reviews and underperformed at the box office. As Kulkarni gears up for the release of Disney+Hotstar’s City of Dreams 3, News18 exclusively catches up with him as he looks back at Laal Singh Chaddha and how it failed to live up to expectations.
Reacting to it for the first time, he told us, “We were making Laal Singh Chaddha for almost 12 years. It took some time to get the permissions. We shot for the film for a few years and then the pandemic happened. A star like Aamir Khan gave four years of his life for the shooting of this film! We were trying to make a film that we thought would be widely appreciated.”
And he revealed that he was ‘disappointed’ with the film’s fate. Talking about it, Kulkarni comments, “We try to make people happy and entertain them with our work, be it a small film or a big film. When it doesn’t happen we get disappointed and feel bad about it. There’s no two ways about it.”
However, he is quick to say that despite its box office performance, Laal Singh Chaddha, 57, will always be very close to him. “We have worked really hard on Laal Singh Chaddha. It is a very special and beautiful film. It will always be very close to my heart. But this business teaches you to be different from success as well as failure,” says Kulkarni emotionally.
However, upon its digital release on Netflix, the film garnered a much bigger audience. So, what is the importance of reviews for him? “Earlier, this was probably the only platform from where actors got to know about the response to their work. This was the only connection the actors had with the audience. Today a lot has changed. As soon as people catch the first look of your latest release, you start getting rave reviews about your work on social media. But if they like it, you can read their reaction after watching the entire film or show,” he elaborated.
But this new mode of communication which not only gives instant gratification but also quick decisions does not deter Kulkarni but makes him happy. produce him next and he says, “It makes me happy because I think all these opinions are his genuine reactions. Professional critics react to films in a compulsive way because it’s their job. But people on social media react They give because they want to. They react if they love something or if something makes them angry. But if the reviews match the collections at the box office, then this is the best place to be.
The Manikarnika: The Queen of Jhansi (2019) and Happy Family: Conditions Apply (2023) actors will take these reactions with a pinch of salt and an open mind. “It is their right to decide and it should be so. I am very glad that technology has democratized these things. Earlier, the audience didn’t have a voice, but now they do, and we have to accept that. People will develop. Right now social media is like a toy and in coming years they will get used to this freedom. We have to be patient and wait for that time to come,” explains Kulkarni.
