In the box office battle which commenced this Independence Day, Abhishek Banerjee emerged as the real winner. Abhishek Banerjee is currently seen in Shraddha Kapoor’s Stree 2 as well as John Abraham’s Vedaa. While both films are performing well at the box office, there is a steep difference between their figures. Stree 2 is about to hit the Rs 300 crore mark and Vedaa stands at Rs 52 lakh. Abhishek Banerjee called this a bittersweet experience.
In an exclusive conversation with News18, Abhishek said, “As an actor, it’s a bittersweet experience. Nikkhil Advani has directed a beautiful film. I saw 60 per cent occupancy for Vedaa in metro cities. I don’t know about the rest. I saw people clapping during the climax. The problem is that Stree is a juggernaut. Since it is also a sequel, the audience is already in sync with the characters. Nobody imagined Stree to be such a big monster. I knew it would be a monster but not that it would become Godzilla.”
Abhishek mentioned that commercial success is important for everyone associated with a film, as it allows one to green-light projects which will not have the same acceptance in the market as bigger films. “When we talk about the Hindi film industry, it’s a business. I have also worked in Indie cinema. Indie cinema is great for artistic satisfaction but sometimes the market is not open to such films. It becomes very difficult to sell those films. Commercial films give you more power to make such films. Not everyone can make a Laapataa Ladies like Aamir Khan or a 12th Fail like Vidhu Vinod Chopra. They can do it because of their commercial success,” he added.
The Stree 2 actor added that the success of the horror comedy film has proven beneficial for theatres as people usually only show up in large numbers for big stars like Shah Rukh Khan. He said, “We’ve been hearing for so long that ‘Public aa nahi rahi hai’. Jab aati hai toh sirf bade stars ke liye aati hai. Yeh bohot time se chal raha hai and it’s very disheartening. There was a time when people would clap and whistle in theatres. They used to dance and celebrate. The last time I saw that was for a Shah Rukh Khan film, Pathan and then Jawan. Usse pehle toh bas kahaaniyan hi sunta tha. I used to say that maybe we’re unlucky that we were born in an era when the audience isn’t too excited about films. But I was proven wrong completely.”
“It’s a clear indication that they want good films. They want entertaining stuff. They want good screenplay, good direction, good acting and good songs. Unko utna dedo voh khush hain. Itna complicated nahi hai. Audience ko khush karna bohot aasaan hai. You just have to work hard and think harder,” he added.
Stree 2’s monumental success is already aiding Abhishek in his career. “Now, immediately, I have started getting offers for leads. I wasn’t getting these offers earlier. The ones I was being offered were tight and low-budget. I got three offers last week. I will start reading and choosing what to do next. It makes a big difference.”
“Commercial success is very important and I care about it. I don’t want to sound intellectual and deny it. Even during my theatre days, my friends would say, ‘Tu bada commercial hai.’ Mujhe bohot maza aata hai commercial films karne main, logo ko entertain karne main. Mujhe utna hi maza aata hai ‘Stolen’ jaisi films karne main. As an actor, I cannot do boring stuff, that’s it,” Abhishek said, re-emphasising the importance of commercial cinema.
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