Veteran Bollywood actor and Padma Bhushan awardee Anupam Kher, on Monday, spoke about the boycott trends on social media and targeted Aamir Khan-starrer 'Lal Singh Chaddha' by stating good movies find ways to work.
Speaking to ANI, Kher said that boycott trends can't affect a movie if it is being loved by the people. "Talks are going on about the boycott trend. On Twitter and social media, there are regular such trends. Suddenly why give so much importance to one movie? Why can't you directly say that people didn't like your movie? This is not the first time that a film has failed. I am not ready to accept that a trend can affect a movie".
On being asked if he is planning to watch 'Lal Singh Chaddha', the actor replied, "I don't feel like watching right now, not because of anything else. I will watch it when I feel like it, but I would like to ask if Aamir Khan has watched 'The Kashmir Files'".
During a press conference in Shimla, Kher said that he feels "every day many trends are there. But the trend that you're talking about, I don't think it's possible for a film to not do good because it's being boycotted."
He continued, "A few years back, people wanted to have some controversy regarding their movies, so their movie runs. Being a representative of the industry I would say that good films find their way. I feel if we are talking about the movie 'Lal Singh Chaddha', if the film is good, then a boycott wouldn't have made a difference".
"There could be a possibility that people didn't like the movie. Word of mouth is very important. Maybe 5 per cent of people have boycotted the movie based on the statement that was made earlier, but if 95 per cent of people have gone to see and after seeing the movie they must have asked people to see the movie if it would've been a good movie," Kher further stated.
"Everyone has the freedom to express themselves. You can't say who are these people. They must have felt that. There were so many negative things that were being said about me. No one came and defended me. It's not that I don't want to defend anyone, but if you talk about freedom of expression then you've to fight the same way," he told.
Further talking about the boycott trend, Kher pointed toward Aamir Khan's 2015 statement about intolerance and how at the time it did not affect the box office success of films like 'Dangal' and 'PK'.
Referring to Aamir's statement, Kher said, "Maybe people thought he should've said that. Despite that, I feel no other country is as tolerant as India. So, sometimes as a responsible person, you've to be careful of what you say as millions of people are following you. so, if you make a careless statement about the country then it can sometimes boomerang."
"I also would like to say that I respect Aamir Khan as an actor and as a human being. Maybe it was not a good film, why can't you accept it? I haven't seen the film. There are so many good films of mine that didn't work. I feel I have put a lot of effort into 'The Accidental Prime Minister', but it didn't work. So many trends were going on daily during my movie 'The Kashmir Files' but it did work. We didn't blame anyone", he added.
Kher also questioned the legitimacy of film critics, saying, "How can critics give 1 star to a movie? They have biases. They give 4 and 4.5 stars to bad films whereas they give one star to movies like 'The Kashmir Files'. Shouldn't they be boycotted? I won't feel defensive. Till today talk is going on not to send 'The Kashmir Files' to Oscars. There are some big personalities in Hindi cinema that are saying that. They can't say that this movie shouldn't go."
Kher concluded by expressing that he feels this is a very good period for the Hindi film industry. He said, "People now know what they want in form of entertainment. If my work doesn't go well, I think why it didn't go well. Instead of cursing the world, I try to correct myself. Blaming someone is the easiest thing to do. Only losers blame, winners in life always change themselves."
( With inputs from ANI )
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