Shahid Kapoor explains the whys and hows of ‘Haider’ box office collections and what kind of impact the movie left on him:
“We are very overwhelmed with the box office collections response. The fact that we released it the day we did and chose to come with another film (Hrithik Roshan’s Bang Bang) which was so big, reiterates the fact that everybody really had a lot of faith in this film, right from the time we conceived it, shot it and viewed our own product. I see it as a victory for a certain kind of cinema. It is much larger than the fact that it?s a successful film for me or that we have recovered the money.
“All those are very important things, but for a film like ‘Haider’ to have released and be liked by the audience not because it?s the only choice at the ticket window, goes to show that there is place for cinema which is not just trying to be commercial, but is honest and from the heart. And films are originally stories that people want to tell?that?s how films were made and over the years it is getting so driven by the market that we are forgetting what the core of cinema is all about.
“And because I come from a family where I have been told that it?s the actor in me that is going to make me a star, I constantly keep feeling the urge to participate in something like this once in a while. Actually, I was angry with myself that for four years after ‘Kaminey’ I didn?t do a film that was risky.
“Why didn?t I have the guts to go out there and do another one of those films? Why did it take me five years to do as risky as scary and non-commercial film as ‘Haider’? When I do a film like this, a little bit of my heart and soul also feels enriched. Even before it released everything that I hoped to achieve from Haider, I did. The experience of playing a character like Hamlet or being in the same frame as actors like Tabu ma’am, Kay Kay sir, Irrfan sir was very enriching.
“Doing something as risky as ‘Haider’, and not knowing whether it will be accepted or not, whether it is your biggest mistake as an actor, are insecurities that are always there, but you take that risk because you need to have that experience as an actor.”