Anubhav Sinha shared his experience of working with Shah Rukh on Ra. One, and admitted that he was starstruck by him while speaking about why the film failed at the box office.
Anubhav Sinha’s 2011 superhero film, Ra. One headlined by Shah Rukh Khan, was his most ambitious project and one of the most anticipated film of that decade. Unfortunately, the superhero actioner upon its release didn’t fare as expected at the box office.
Recently in an interview with casting director Mukesh Chhabra for Mashable India, Anubhav opened up on the film’s failure. He said that while he gave his all to the film, perhaps he was too ‘enamoured’ by the Bollywood star while directing him which didn’t work in the film’s favour.
Speaking about his admiration for SRK, the ‘Dus’ director said, “I told him that I am so enamoured by you and a director should not be enamoured by his actor. I am from Varanasi. Sanjay Dutt was a star even before I came into films. While making ‘Dus’ I used to call him ‘Sanju’, then Shah Rukh became a star in front of me, he came to Mumbai almost at the same time as me. Then when he started becoming a star, I also became his fan.’
Anubhav said that by the time he worked with Shah Rukh Khan, he was a big star and that he would always wonder how people could have access to a star like him.
The filmmaker further recalled how he got Shah Rukh Khan on board for Ra. One and shared, “By then mobile phones had come and I messaged him one day that I have a story that can only be made with him. Dus had released then and perhaps he would have liked it. We held a meeting and he said let’s make the film.”
During the course of the conversation, Anubhav said that he realised Shah Rukh’s generosity as a producer when he was mounting his big-budget film. He then went on to recall how he wanted Akon to sing one of the songs for Ra. One, and conveyed the same to King Khan.
The ‘Tum Bin’ director shared, ” He asked, “Akon will sing in Hindi? Ok, let me see.’ Then one day in New York, while we had to catch a flight, he stopped at a hotel in Times Square and said there’s some work to be done. When we went to the top floor-a night club, Akon was sitting there. He was addressing me as ‘big star.'”
“That’s the perk of working with him, but my weakness was that I was so enamoured by him that whatever he said, sounded gospel truth to me, which shouldn’t happen. But that was my fault, not his,” he continued.
Further, Anubhav said that when Ra. One released in Diwali 2011, it did a business of around Rs 150 Crore, but he was criticized for his direction. The negativity started growing so fast that people from the Hindi film industry stopped answering his call and he was out of work. This continued for five-six years. He started believing that he didn’t know how to direct films and moved to production.
The filmmaker said that the promotions for Ra. One was so expansive that he even told SRK that they need to cut down on it or else people would think that the superstar would leap out of the screen. And then when the film failed at the box office, there were vicious and malicious campaigns that broke Sinha’s heart and back.
Ra. One is Anubhav Sinha and Shah Rukh Khan’s only collaboration till date.
