A lovable giant is what best describes Rohit Shetty. When one meets him for the first time, they see this huge, tall, well built guy and might get the impression that he’s those really tough kinds but once you get to know Rohit Shetty and start having a conversation with him, you realise that he’s like the BFG from Roald Dahl’s book; A big friendly giant! He’s got this childlike charm and turns the whole interview into one fun and hilarious conversation.
Riding high on the success of his recently released Golmaal Again, which has become Bollywood’s highest grosser this year, Rohit talks about the success of the film. In an exclusive interview with HFT, Rohit jokes that the idea of making a horror comedy came to him because of his own face! He says, “ I wake up every morning and see my face and that’s where I thought of a horror comedy!”
“Jokes apart, I feel horror comedy works even though not many people have explored it. Look at the response the film has got I think it’s because of the horror element,” he adds.
Rohit also feels that films that are multi starrers work business wise and add to the success of the film, because everyone has their own fan following and they want to see them together, see their chemistry, like an Amar, Akbar, Anthony or what Akshay Kumar and Sunil Shetty used to do. It adds value to the film. People should make multi starrers and I can see that happening now.
The absolutely humble person that Rohit is, he explains that the success of the film not only belongs to him, but to the fraternity as a whole. He says, “The business of the film reflects the number of people who have seen the film and loved it. A large segment of the audience watching the film is crucial for the product.”
Rohit also feels that business is important not just for the films’ producers, but for the whole industry — the distributor, exhibitor and theatre owners. “I think, as an industry, we should come together, compliment and celebrate each other’s success whether it’s a commercial film or an offbeat content-driven movie,” says Rohit.
Golmaal Again has made more than 179 crores in India, and as a director and producer, Rohit is trying his best to push the envelope and take Bollywood films to the next level.
Rohit says, “The amount of business Tamil and Telugu films do in just one state, we are not able to achieve that even with a pan-India release. It is high time we stop differentiating films as commercial and content-driven. We should think about how we can take Bollywood to the next level.”
That’s a great thought we say!
