Being a die-hard fan of Bollywood, I had been waiting for the theatres to reopen to be able to relive that whole experience of community viewing in a dark room, where there is nothing else between you and the film. So, it was a bittersweet moment for me when I went to watch Rohit Shetty’s Sooryavanshi on the first day itself and didn’t get the ticket. I was sad for not being able to see the film but much happier that the theatre business was back on track, and only a Rohit Shetty film, especially from the cop universe, could have done that.
Today, we go gaga over the feat that Rohit has achieved by being able to create probably the first film universe in India. He gave us Ajay Devgn’s Singham, Ranveer Singh’s Simmba, and now Akshay Kumar’s Sooryavanshi, with a possibility of more names to add to that list. But being a pioneer of anything is never easy, and Rohit had his moments of doubt as well. In an exclusive interview with Shravan Shah, our Entertainment Head at MissMalini, Rohit expressed this.
Here’s what he said about the origin of the universe:
“During Simmba, we started thinking about it. It started like let’s bring Singham into this film, and if it works then we will start creating the universe. It was a big risk. Today, Simmba is a hit character and the film did so well, but when we were making the film, there was always a doubt about how well the film will be received by the audience.”
What we see now is an endless sea of possibilities in this universe with almost every person out there having a suggestion for who the next cop can be. But to even think that all this could have ended way before it even began is unfathomable right now, although that was a possibility once.
Here’s what Rohit revealed:
“For us, if Simmba wouldn’t have done well, even Singham would have gone down with it too since he was there in the film. After Simmba we got the confidence and then Sooryavanshi started and Akshay came on.”
It’s all a success story today and we are always excited for the next installment of Rohit’s cop universe, so it’s like all’s well that ends well. The biggest hope that Sooryavanshi’s success has given to the Hindi film industry is that theatre viewing is not dead and I can’t wait to be able to continue my tradition of watching a film in theatres every Friday.