The cast and crew of last year’s big-budget mythological epic Adipurush went underground immediately after the film’s disastrous opening, which was marred by controversy surrounding its content. Nobody except writer-lyricist Manoj Muntashir Shukla spoke publicly about the film, its quality, and the backlash surrounding it. But months after its release, actor Saif Ali Khan addressed its failure in a recent interview, albeit briefly.
In an interview with Film Companion, Saif insisted that he doesn’t see himself as a star who can open all sorts of projects. He cited his 2019 Western film Laal Kaptaan as an example. Directed by Navdeep Singh, the film could barely crack the Rs 50 lakh mark on day one of release. “I’m not star enough to pull off anything,” he said with a laugh.
Also read – Adipurush row: From negative reviews and declining box office to Saif Ali Khan and Manoj Muntashir’s controversial statements, a rundown of major events
“It’s nice to be realistic, and I’ve never actually thought of myself as a star, and I don’t really want to also. I like being a star, but I don’t want to be delusional. My parents are big stars, but very realistic, very normal. There’s so much more in life to be real about, my focus has always been on that… The idea is not to be scared of failing. People say, ‘That was a brave choice…’ You talk about Adipurush, for example. People talk about risks, but if you fall on your face, it’s not a risk really. You have to have a few of those also, and it’s a part of the approach. You have to shrug it off, feel bad, and say, ‘Nice try, but bad luck, let’s go to the next one’.
About Laal Kaptaan, Saif recalled that his co-star Deepak Dobriyal told him on set that the film could be their The Revenant, seeing as how physically demanding it was for them to be out in the wild, left at the mercy of nature. “Firstly, it was an amazing experience, and so exhausting. And emotionally, we spent a couple of months apart,” he said, gesturing at his wife, Kareena Kapoor, who was also a part of the interview. Released in June last year, Adipurush was an adaptation of the Ramayana, and featured Prabhas and Kriti Sanon in the roles of Raghava and Janaki, while Saif played the antagonist Lankesh. The film was a critical and commercial disaster, failing to recover its reported Rs 600 crore-plus budget.
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