Filmmaker Anil Sharma is exasperated. Even though his Veer has opened well at the box office, there are questions being raised around its expected eventual box office outcome, courtesy it’s heavy budget. Though the film is undeniably set on a huge scale and has an extravagant look and feel to it, Veer – as per Anil Sharma – isn’t really carrying a mega expensive multi crore budget tag as is being perceived.
“It is certainly not in Rs. 100 crores range as is being said out there”, fumes Anil Sharma who last saw such comments working inversely for his Sunny Deol starrer The Hero, “It’s completely untrue. People just come up with certain imaginative figures but the real fact is something that the makers know best. Rest assured, Veer isn’t as costly as some people want to believe.”
His comments come with a fair reason. When released, The Hero was touted as a Rs. 50 crores film. Since it was his next release after Gadar – Ek Prem Katha, there was nothing less expected from The Hero. The film did quite well at the box office but since it couldn’t match up to the kind of response that Gadar – Ek Prem Katha had, it was labelled as an under performer.
“This entire Rs.50 crore talk was a publicity stunt which backfired on us”, says Sharma, “Considering half the film was shot in Manali, how could the production costs have been so massive? The budget was quite minimal actually and the film was completed in Rs. 22-23 crores. I am even willing to share the breakdown with you where the director and the actor were paid 8 crores. You tell me, where would the remainder Rs.40 odd crores have been spent?”
Unwilling to mince any words, he continues, “Just because Gadar did such huge business, this entire stunt around Rs. 50 crores budget was played up by the makers. It was all so wrong because this trend seems to be catching up even till date. It does more harm than good. In fact you people from media should also ask a question asking where did the money go? Filmmakers say that their film was made in a certain budget and everyone just trusts them blindly. But they say that, so that the film gets sold on a higher figure, however, you should also challenge such astronomical amounts before printing anything.”
