Fighter starring Hrithik Roshan and Deepika Padukone and directed by Siddharth Anand released last month on 25th January amidst positive reviews and favorable word of mouth. The film got off to a decent start and did well over the Republic Day and subsequent weekend. Fighter, however, failed to cash in on the momentum and started seeing drops as soon as the weekdays arrived. The film is now running on single-digit collection daily much to the surprise of everyone.
Siddharth Anand, who directed this action drama has now attracted controversy over his statements about the audience’s failure to grasp the movie.
In a bizarre justification of the movie’s dull box-office performance, he said, “Around 90% of our country’s population has not experienced flying in planes or visited an airport. So, how would they comprehend what’s happening in the movie? It seemed a bit alien to them. They didn’t fully grasp the exhilaration of the air action, resulting in an initial disconnect. But once you step into the theatre, you realize this is such a basic film.”
Siddharth Anand should open his eyes to reality, reflect on his failures and see what worked and what didn’t in the film. He should ask himself why people did not connect to the film. Blaming audiences directly is senseless. Every director makes a film for audiences and it’s the director’s job to ensure the audience connects well to the film and its elements.
There have been numerous films made on extremely complicated themes and complicated screenplays and they have been hugely successful. So the blame doesn’t lie with the audience for sure.