'83': Director Kabir Khan calls Ranveer Singh starrer 'victim of COVID pandemic'

The entire country is gripped with the fear of the COVID-19 cases rapidly increasing along with a surge in the new variant, Omicron cases. With many sectors being affected by the same, the Entertainment industry is no exception with several states facing the fear of theatres shutting down or only working on 50% occupancy. Several upcoming films like RRR, Radhe Shyam and Jersey have already announced the postponement in their releases to avoid losses. 

However, Kabir Khan directorial sports biographical drama titled 83, which was expected to become one of the biggest films of the year in Bollywood emerged as one of the hardest-hit films by the pandemic. Despite being critically acclaimed, the movie ended up grossing over Rs 97 crore domestically which was far less than what was expected of the film. Addressing the same, filmmaker Kabir Khan opened up about the film's box office collection. 

Kabir Khan on 83 box office collection

In an interview with PTI, the 53-year-old director opened up about working on the film for over two years by stating, ''I feel exhilarated to have created this film which has received so much love but at the same time there is a disappointment that not everybody who wants to watch it can see it today because the pandemic is there with historic numbers. We nurtured the film for two years, waited for the correct time so that everybody gets to see it on the big screen.''

He further talked about the explosion of cases that occurred on the day of the movie's grand release in theatres by stating, ''But with this pandemic, despite our best planning, one can never get it right. We did not know that the explosion (of cases) would literally take place on the day of our release. December 24 is when we (the country) hit 6,000 cases and in 10 days we crossed a lakh. It was just sad.''

He further revealed that his team got a message indicating that things could go 'spiralling out of control', however, they did not have the time to react and simply kept their 'fingers crossed'. Subsequently, Gujarat, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh announced night curfew on the second day of the film's release which impacted the night shows, as per the director. Furthermore, Delhi announced a complete shutdown of theatres within the next four days. 

He continued, ''So many people loved the film, so naturally one has to question what went wrong and what went wrong is the pandemic. There was no chance to fight back. The pandemic is not just about theatres shutting down but also this psyche… The mindset (of stepping out) can change overnight. The film is a victim of the pandemic. How can you report the figures without the context, that there is a raging pandemic out there?''

(Inputs from PTI)

Image: Instagram/@ranveersingh/kabirkhankk