Ajay Devgn says it is wrong that the stars are being held responsible for Bollywood's poor show in 2022.
Ajay Devgn is back to gearing up the cash registers with the release of ‘Drishyam 2’, but he also had a slow year at the box office with ‘Runway 34’ and ‘Thank God’. While ‘Thank God’ failed to impress the audience and critics alike, ‘Runway 34’ only got feedback after its release on digital platforms. But, that doesn’t mean the actor-producer would want to release the film in theatres.
‘Runway 34’, which was directed and produced by Ajay, raked in around Rs 33 crore in total gross collection. But when it was released on OTT, it made him feel partly vindicated that he does not have failed the audience completely despite feeling that he wanted the film to have a good run at the box office. He told The Times Of India, he won’t “consider (at least not at this stage) trying to re-release Runway 34 in theatres”.
Meanwhile, his recent ‘Drishyam 2’, which is the Hindi remake of Malayalam film by the same name, has now entered the Rs 200 crore club, the third film after ‘The Kashmir Files’ and ‘Brahmastra’ to do so.
Talking about Bollywood’s poor show this year, Ajay said that only stars are not to be blamed for the same as the film needs to be seen in ‘totality’ with its script, the stars, ensemble cast, crew and technicians.
“We could have (I’m including myself also) failed to tell the right story with the right treatment and bring joy to an audience. Maybe as stars we had become complacent; maybe as makers we had started to take an audience for granted. There are many variables for success and there are many, many variables for failure. To pin-point that stars alone failed is incorrect. While a great story told well brings ‘joy’, seeing stars enact the roles also brings credibility to the table,” he said.
In ‘Drishyam 2’, Ajay returned in his role of Vijay Salgaonkar in the hit franchise. He is not gearing up for the release of his next film ‘Bholaa’, which will be his fourth directorial. It is the Hindi remake of Tamil blockbuster ‘Kaithi’, which starred Karthi in the lead role and was helmed by Lokesh Kanagaraj.