Rohit Shetty reveals he could’ve earned 3 times the money had he sold Sooryavanshi to Netflix during Covid: ‘Akshay Kumar supported me’

Mahesh Manjrekar dismisses Vicky Kaushal’s contribution to Chhaava’s success: ‘Vicky can never say people came to see him’

Rohit Shetty released his ambitious cop drama Sooryavanshi in 2022, right after theatres had reopened post a two-period shutdown induced by Covid lockdown. With social distancing and other Covid protocol in place, the Akshay Kumar-starrer managed to earn Rs 196 crore. However, in a recent interview, the filmmaker revealed he could’ve earned thrice the money had he sold the film to an OTT platform, like most producers were doing at the time.

“I was the most worried during Sooryavanshi’s release. It was the biggest risk. We were reopening theatres. They were at 50% capacity. The audience was masked. We had to follow protocol, leave alternate seats empty,” said Rohit. He attributed his decision to release the film in theatres instead of on an OTT platform because he wanted to help the theatre owners. “Somebody had to take that risk. Otherwise I’d have earned three times the profit had it released online. You can talk to Akshay also. You can ask Netflix,” added Rohit.

Rohit reasoned that Sooryavanshi was made on a large scale and had big-scale action sequences, so merited a theatrical release. “Theatre owners were bleeding at that time. We used to get a lot of calls. Sometimes we helped out the small theatres as well, like helping the projectionist. It went off well,” added Rohit.

Story continues below this ad

Sooryavanshi was initially scheduled to release in cinemas on March 19, but it was stalled after concerns around Covid began surfacing in India in March 2020. Prime Minister Narendra Modi imposed a nationwide lockdown on March 21, leading to the theatres getting shut down intermittently for over two years. “I’d have gotten money while sitting at home during Covid. But I thought let’s not (release Sooryavanshi on OTT). Akshay also supported that. Reliance (Entertainment, co-producer) also stood by me. And the film released in theatres after two years,” recalled Rohit.

The filmmaker also revealed that the budget of his latest cop drama, Singham Again (2024), is equal to the budget of his three standalone cop films from the past — Ajay Devgn-led Singham (2011), Ranveer Singh-led Simmba (2018), and Sooryavanshi. Singham Again had a bigger star cast too, with old players Ajay, Kareena Kapoor, Akshay, and Ranveer joined by new entrants Deepika Padukone and Tiger Shroff.

Also Read — Rohit Shetty calls Ranveer Singh, Deepika Padukone his 2 am friends: ‘She came for Singham Again’s final schedule when she was 4 months pregnant’

But the budget blew up not because of the cast, but because of the scale. “It’s a very costly film. It’s not because of the stars, I’d say. The making was challenging. We could’ve made the film with all of them within a set budget. But again, it all boils down to honesty. We wanted to up the canvas, storytelling, and action because the audience has expectations from Singham. There’s an emotional connect. When the first film came out in 2011, the teenager would’ve been a dad by now and a kid would’ve been a teenager. So there’s a responsibility when it comes to doing a Singham or a Golmaal,” said Rohit.

Source link

Rohit Shetty reveals he could’ve earned 3 times the money had he sold Sooryavanshi to Netflix during Covid: ‘Akshay Kumar supported me’

Leave a reply Cancel reply

Most Popular

Recent Comments

EDITOR PICKS

POPULAR POSTS

ABOUT US

FOLLOW US