Losing money doesn’t affect Shah Rukh, losing love of audience does: Anand L Rai

Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan’s last film ‘Jab Harry Met Sejal’ was one of the biggest disasters of his career, but the director of his next film, Aanand L Rai has said, “bank balance” is not something that affects the superstar. But it’s the fear of “losing the love of people” that has begun to affect him.

The ‘dwarf’ film, which is scheduled to release during Christmas next year, once again carries the burden of expectations, especially from the director who last made the blockbuster ‘Tanu Weds Manu Returns’.

“We are aware that his films haven’t worked. It’s there in front of us, we can’t deny that. Box office collections don’t affect him as much. Bank account deposit is the last thing on his mind. What affects him is that he might be losing the love of people” Aanand L Rai was quoted as saying by a leading daily.

But the director has taken it upon himself to “rectify” Shah Rukh’s relationship with the audience, promising to do a “damn good job” of his next film.

“With our film, I know I will rectify his relationship with the audience. I won’t let the reactions to his last films cloud my head right now. I am here to deliver and I will do a damn good job of it. Right now, we are having fun at work and I won’t let anything change that” Rai said.

Shah Rukh, who never had an outright box office failure for over a decade after ‘Paheli’ in 2005, delivered the year’s biggest disaster in ‘Jab Harry Met Sejal’ – which followed the poor performance of ‘FAN’ last year. While ‘FAN’ tanked at the box office, it was ‘JHMS’ that shocked the trade as it finished with lifetime business of around 63 crore.

The Aanand L Rai film, also starring Anushka Sharma and Katrina Kaif, releases in theatres next December.

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60 Comments

  • The connection of masses wd classes. No one can explain it better than u Anand sir.

    Ur confidence will really boost us as a Srk Fan.
    We r waiting for A Larger than Life film.
    Best wishes for the film sir.

    And it’s good that SRK has realised tht he is looking his relationship wd Audiences. He must get out of tht frndship zone who r affecting his skills.
    DDLJ 2 DON , No one can do everything SRK Sir.
    U r a LEGEND. WE LOVE YOU?
    N We r wd everytime.

    • Despite worst phase. Raees scored 286 Crore world wide. that’s highest for 2017. this is never crossed by any actor in Hindi movies except Aamir, Salman, Rithik and Sanjay leela movie. I think he should make an Action family drama movie every year fix date like bakri eid targeting family & mass audience. This genere is exploted well by Allu Arjun & Mahesh babu in Telegu cinema. Family story 20%, comedy in between 33%, romance 20% and 33% action. Sort of Family mass masala. Raees/ Dilwale were close attempt but lacked screen play and direction. Story should be focused then Direction should be good , add SRK initial pull then sky is limit. Raees had good direction with action, family angle and romance but it lacked comedy. Dilwale had family angle , action, comedy and romance but END was haphazardly Directed .

    • Accept that srk is now very bad phase of his career. But this bad phase comes in every actors career including amitabh; amir, Salman & akshsy every actors career. hope that srk also learn a lesson from it & not over coconfident in ownself & every movie. only one superb movie gives boost in his career & that is not impossible for srk if he choose good movie. His true fans always with him with any phase of his life & career. With lots of love, respect & confidence to SRK sir.

    • Not many care or expect collections from him anymore. He needs to deliver a classic film like Chak De or Swadesh to get back the love of his audience.

  • Since last few years most of us have always been thinking SRK’s next movie will do better & next director will give him a much needed blockbuster. But this surely looks his last hope right now.

  • Nothing has been changed.From KANK in 2006 to Happy New Year in 2014 SRK delivered 11 consecutive hits or above .it is a unique record.gangu teli Salman can only imagine this record in his dreams.
    Oh, I forgot Salman have also a unique record but that was 11 consecutive flops and disasters.

  • Money is no longer an issue for someone like Shahrukh Khan. It’s only about doing the right film and entertaining your audience. The Dwarf film is the first universal film of SRK since long time(last was HNY), there’s almost everything in its favour- superb starcast, brilliant director, pan-Indian appeal, best release date, interesting concept… Let the content click and SRK will be back with a bang!

  • “Losing money doesn’t affect Shah Rukh”…How can it affect? Afterall he’s earned most of them by doing MUJRA in weddings… Mehnat ka kamai thode naa hai?

    • even if he did that he will take more efforts than you ever will…grow up stop this juvenile attempt at comedy..such regressive thoughts you have..

  • No way watching this movie unless average review is 4.0 onwards. This is the punishment for fooling audience. And this applies to everyone who thinks he is a king of an industry. In truth, we, the audience are the king

  • U know what the problem is?
    Even his die hard fans are not coming to watch the film. I watch every SRK film on FDFS, now with my hard earned money. But I left JHMS 20 minutes before the ending. I somehow tolerated FAN. I found absolutely nothing good in Raees.

    One of my friend is a die hard SRK fan. He has SRK posters all over his room. We study together. But he hasn’t seen JHMS yet.

    Biggest thing that hurts is when u go to theatres and people on the back say “I was a SRK fan once, what happened to him now?” “Ab to Salman bhi ek se ek badiya picture karr raha ha…”

    My grandmother, who can’t recognize letters, who was a big SRK fan since Deewana days, couldn’t even understand Fan and JHMS. A lot of fans couldn’t……

    • What was the problem with Raees?
      Fan was niche
      U may have not liked jhms
      But Raees was fantastic
      It would have crossed 200cr mark had it released solo
      I feel only hny Nd dilwale were his mistakes
      Jhms was niche but was flawed too but it was still likeable

  • Anand is a good director and i dnt say it coz his mvz performed at b.o ..

    Dey were good entertaining films offering something fresh ..
    And here he seems confident ..which is good …for his sake i hope movie performs coz stars actors can get away wd flops but director even if gvs one b.o flop …he is written off mostly unless he is a kjo or an adi ….also srk shld let him mk what he wants to …d script to whch srk said yes and now not second guess or impose his ideas after failures …coz i followed d jhms news and everything …and fair assumption srk changed it ….and dilwale toh now everyone knows ….final product was absolutely different and wld not hv mattered if it was a good film but it ruined it …shetty took d majority blame ..srk soured his relation wd him …..srk dsnt hv d knack of mking scripts better unlk other two sk and ak..(at ds stage of his career atleast) …so datz dat …and all d best to d team.
    And while on shetty ..i think he is a good hindi commercial director who cn entertain …so i want a collaboration of salman and shetty and deliver a big ticket hindi commercial entertainer.

  • SRK is not loosing money. He is the 8th highest paid actor of the world, RCE makes huge profit. But since the last 1.5 years, the distributors of his films are being robbed.

    And yes, people don’t love SRK as much as they used to. In 90s they used to burst crackers in theatres in his entry, throw money and girls used to kiss the screen/celluloid on his appearance. But now he is over

    Let me give you brief reasons:
    1. Shitty films(HNY, JHMS, FAN etc)
    2. Old looks(He has become the ugliest person in the world)
    3. Boring(Same spreading arms, and that Jab tak hai jaan dialogue every time)
    4. No vision(He is still stuck in 90s. And please no more esoteric films)

    SRK IS OVER OVER OVER………..And over

  • What will happen if race 3 clashes with this film?
    I think Salman Khan is too kind to take on Srk in his bad phase. But ajay or akki can clash with this film.
    I would want Salman Khan to clash with this film bcz Srk has beaten jaan-e-man saying that there are only 2 khans chengis khan & srk. Race 3 will be able to beat Katrina meri jaan. Race 3 is going to be a gigantic film with salman Khan in the lead. I have asked ramesh taurani in tweet to cast a great A list actress & a south actor instead of john.

  • And indicine call a spade a spade srk apart from chennai express has flops disaster and no clean unoversal hits. Manipulation here dr in collections ..dr verdicts ..fudging …has ensured other films in ds decade r gvn verdicts lk semi hit ..abv avg ..and things lk producers md a killing in dr profits as if dat decides b.o verdicts but datz bn highlighted wd vigour.
    Anyways think srks got d right director for his next …good luck …wait and watch is d name of d game.

  • It’s the law of gravity. Everything that goes up must come down. SRK was at his peak in last decade until 2008. Post that Salman & Aamir have taken over. This decade belongs to them. SRK has had huge media backing in the past & that had created an aura around him. Now the very media itself stands discredited. Hardly anyone even pays a glance at the media reviews anymore. Also, not having a good relationship with the current government is hurting SRK a lot. The fallout of Intolerance remark was severely felt by SRK the most. Everybody saw the huge backlash against Dilwale & since then a huge chunk of neutral audience seem to have deserted him. His movies open well because his fans turn up. But they don’t carry beyond the 1st weekend. A proof that neutral audience is staying away from his movies. His choice of movies too isn’t helping much. Also, SRK hasn’t had a great relationship with his contemporaries. He has had fallout with Salman but don’t think the ball has stopped bouncing. Salman clearly left him dry during Sultan vs Raees. He spoilt his relationship with Akshay 4 years back when he clashed CE with OUATIMD. Since then Akshay stopped getting big budget movies. He had to reinvent himself but, he certainly remembered & struck back at SRK in his most vulnerable time. And if rumours are to be believed Roshans are eyeing Christmas 2018 for Krishh 4.

    • What do you mean Akshay stopped getting big budget movies since OUATIMD. Ever heard about Brothers, Housefull 3 and few others? The question is, is he doing those kind of films? The producers are always there to make a big budget movie with Akshay Kumar, but it’s about his smart choices at the moment.

  • Was highly highly disapppinted with JHMS but the hopes are high with this movie. When the world says “Give – up”, Hope whispers “Try it one more time”. So SRK keep trying but do address the cause of the mistakes which is leading to the box office under-performers.

    Advice for Aanand Rai : no need to adapt the script to match SRK’s romantic personna. No need for the SRK’s signature arms stretching scene. SRK has done that all pretty successfully. Just need now a solid script which connects with the audience esp the neutral audience. You have connected with the audience before Aanand Rai and hoping that you deliver it one another time. Loved your work in Ranjhana & both the Tanu Weds Manu movies. Just don’t change your style for SRK. Rohit Shetty (not blaming him alone as the responsibility lies on the whole core team) committed that mistake and made changes in original Dilwale script to adapt to the legendary SRK-Kajol romantic pair and the movie turned out to be a mess.

    Apart from SRK playing a dwarf, read in an article recently that SRK has a double role and probably one of the characters has a bipolar disorder. If that is true then looks to be an interesting movie and not just a typical romantic movie.

    Like always the trailer (though very far) will give a clearer picture of what to expect actually from the movie. Fingers crossed.

  • the problem with SRK is nothing else but expectations are always high we very well know he is class above all in terms of acting but he should now come with different subjects. MNIK is a wonderful experience he should do more like this films with Karan Johar . Jab harry met sejal the name itself was a flop i knew it its gonna be a disaster SRK films should not have such crappy name in the first place. everyone knew the subject will be useless.

  • Nothing against him but right now this movie looks a flop to me..the jab tak hai Jaan cast reunites to give the same kind of bad movie the aforementioned however survived due to diwali but this tym it looks very tough for him

    • Jthj was a fantastic movie that’s why it became hit and earned 125cr India and 250cr we despite clash with son of sardar in 2012

  • @ prashant abhishek

    U say if it get solo release . Jhms release solo but your srk think he do dirty trick like he di 2013 but time change.

    U thank God that jhms not clash with tell
    Otherwise forget 60 cr. It doesn’t collect more than 35to40 cr.

    And ALR says because he do movie with srk otherwise no one like srk and his aaogance.

    Any way ALR movie with srk release solo then it could collect above 60cr. Otherwise if it clash with krish3 than god know what happen with this film maximum 40 cr.

  • Itna ghamand tha toh Strangers jaisi disaster kaise direct ki thi.
    Damn good job….Zindagi jhandwa phirbhi ghamandwa

  • SRK will Rise Back only content is missing but still he is highest opener of the year with a big clash. Highest grosser of the year more than 8 months and Highest paid actor actor in Bollywood in his worst phase. People come in theatre to see a good films but it is not in a case of SRK because he ruled his audiences hearts by DDLJ kal ho na ho , devdas , veer-zahra , chakde india. Etcs

  • Again anushka in the movie with srk ..now that’s a boring thing…anushka is not a very good actress she is just ok ..it’s just that deepika and priyanka shifted to hollywood and anushka got big films …and more than that anushka is mainly popular due to kohli her relationship with him gave her all the limelight and national recognition otherwise she is nothing. ..

  • All these sudden press releases are coming out that this film is not just about the dwarf but its a double role and now a random interview with the director of SRK’s next which is releasing in 15 months, only point to one thing – PANIC!

    By the time this Dwarf movie releases lets look at other big hitters and their movie releases

    Aamir would’ve had one and a half movies released, Salman will have two movies released maybe even three, Akshay would’ve had had four releases, Ajay is now getting back on track with commercial films and he does pull off 80+ crores net grossers and I think he’ll have five movies by then. Ranbir’s next is a Rajkumar Hirani film, Ranveer has a SLB film, Varun Dhawan comes up with strong 100 crores films nowadays at ease and will have atleast two by then.

    Going by this SRK will have fallen behind in terms of standing, by the majority… hes already behind Aamir, Salman, Akshay and I expect Ajay to get back on track and also Ranbir, Ranveer and Varun to really hit big with their films.

    SRK is desperate for a solo release on X-Mas which will not happen because very soon you’ll hear an announcement very soon about a film releasing with it as many actors now can take on a film about a love story of a Dwarf… wait and watch!

    These PR articles and interviews mean nothing now… this Dwarf movie will not work and the max it’ll do is what Dilwale did due to a long holiday release!

  • Losing money = Losing love of audience.
    Simple as that.
    It’s like saying “I don’t care about the box-office but I want everybody to see the movie”.

  • @ New Era SRK, Javed, Jab Romance Met Sejal, SRK’S Jabra Fan And Those Few SRKians.
    .
    Now tell me, How would you all feel if I start spreading negativity of his upcoming film from today itself till the release date…???

    • BRO…I M NOT INTRESTED IN HAVING A CONVO HERE.. AND SPECIALLY ON SUCH NON SENSE THINGS..

      ITS YOUR WISH I CANT CONTROL U..

      AND NEITHER IT WILL CHANGE ANYTHING FOR ME.. I LIKE AKKI AND HR ALSO AFTER SRK..

      IF U WANT TO BASH SRK FROM POINT OF GO..U CAN COZ MY WORDS WONT MAKE A DIFFERENCE TO U..IF ONCE U HAVE DECIDED..

      • I hope, Those some SRKians will read your comment and will think upon it…!!!

  • SRK AS ACTOR WAS NEVER OUT OF TOUCH.. EVEN IN HIS DISASTER MOVIE JHMS HIS PERFORMANCE WAS TOP NOTCH..

    THE OPENING IS ALSO ALWAYS GOOD..

    HE ONLY NEED A PAN INDIA APPEALING MOVIE WHICH TOUCH THE HEART OF THE AUDIENCE..

    HE IS STILL CAPABLE OF DELIVERY THOSE HGOTY..

    JUST ONE MOVIE AND BOOM HE STARTS..

    BUT DONT KNOW WHEN THAT MOVIE WILL COME.. ITS BEEN A LONG WAIT FOR US SRKIANS AND EVEN FOR THE TRADE..

    ANAND L RAI’S MOVIE AND HIS WORK HAS BEEN ALWAYS APPRECIATED BY THE AUDIENCE BE IT AS A DIRECTOR OR PRODUCER..

    LETS SEE WHAT HE DELIVERS IN DWARF..

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