Singham Again Maker Rohit Shetty Comments On Dismal First Half Of 2024 For Bollywood: It's A Phase

Rohit Shetty is gearing up for the release of his film Singham Again. The movie boasts an ensemble star cast including Ajay Devgn, Akshay Kumar, Kareena Kapoor, Arjun Kapoor, Deepika Padukone, Ranveer Singh and Tiger Shroff and will hit the big screens on November 1 coinciding with the Diwali festivities. In a new interview, the filmmaker weighed in on the dismal performance of Bollywood movies in theatres in the first half of the year. 

Rohit Shetty says box office lul is 'just a phase'

Bollywood movies not doing well at the box office this year is just a phase and one should focus on films that have been successful, says filmmaker Rohit Shetty as he hopes his much-awaited Singham Again makes viewers happy. Other than small and mid-budget movies like Kiran Rao-directed Laapataa Ladies, Dinesh Vijan’s home production, Munjya, Kareena Kapoor Khan and Tabu-starrer Crew, Ajay Devgn’s Shaitaan, and Rajkummar Rao's Srikanth, the first half of the year has been dismal for the Hindi film industry with the failure of Bade Miyan Chote Miyan, Maidaan and Yodha. But Shetty, known for making big-budget, star-studded blockbusters, is not worried.
 

“It's a phase which comes every five to six years, where a year or two goes bad business-wise. Like, we have had Pathaan, Jawan, Gadar 2, and Oh My God 2, so it's like missing time syndrome. So, we focus on that, we don't look at films that did well," the filmmaker told PTI in an interview. He continued, "For instance, Gadar 2 it's not like they did business of Rs 100 or Rs 200 crore, it did Rs 500-600 crore plus business. We need to focus on the good part. It happens, you’ve phases. It’s a cycle.”  

Rohit Shetty dismisses Singham Again being compared to Marvel's Avengers

The 50-year-old director is optimistic about Singham Again, his next directorial venture with frequent collaborator Ajay Devgn, which opens in theatres on November 1 on the occasion of Diwali. The upcoming action film is the third film in the Singham series, which started with 2011’s Singham and was followed by Singham Returns in 2014. These movies are tied with the storylines of Sooryavanshi, led by Akshay Kumar and Simmba, starring Ranveer Singh. Shetty, however, is wary of comparisons between his cop universe and Avengers movies.

He told PTI, "I can't compare Singham Again with Avengers. They are too big. Ours is a cop universe, we’ve Ajay, Akshay, Ranveer, and Kareena, and then there are new characters this time. We are trying to work in our world and the way it is shaping up, I think people will get what they want from Singham Again.”  The idea, he said, is to create content that appeals to a wide segment of the audience. "You need to up your game every time because there's a lot of exposure that the audience has, so you need to be on that level. We've to be on that level,” he said.

(With inputs from PTI)