Amitabh Bachchan starrer ‘Baghban’ saw no footfall in theatres amidst first four days
Amitabh Bachchan starrer ‘Baghban’ saw no footfall in theatres amidst first four days
Amitabh Bachchan and Hema Malini starrer Baghban, a Ravi Chopra directorial saw no footfall in theatres amidst first four days.
However Salman Khan’s involvement changed its fate’. Ravi Chopra had once revealed that even his father, legendary filmmaker BR Chopra, was sceptical over Baghban, believing the story was outdated.
But Baghban (2003) turned out to be a big hit..Although the film, featuring Amitabh Bachchan, Hema Malini, Salman Khan, and Mahima Chaudhry among others, emerged as a blockbuster, Ravi Chopra’s wife Renu Chopra recently revealed that finding a distributor for it was challenging, as most found it old-fashioned.
Mentioning that the film failed to gain traction amidst its first four days in theatres, she said that its fate took a dramatic turn after that.
“Baghban did not have a good run on its first four days (Friday-Monday) in theatres. Ravi wondered why he made that film. But its fate changed on Tuesday and the movie picked up,” she shared amid chat
Opening up about the challenges they faced in bringing the film to theatres, Renu explained that Salman Khan’s involvement proved to be a turning point. Notwithstanding the film being ready, no distributor wished to take up Baghban. They called it old-fashioned and this was a time when Amit ji was on a decline and had just made a comeback with Mohabbatein and KBC. They all said no one would touch it,” she recalled.
Renu added, then someone suggested bringing Salman Khan on board for a guest appearance — the only part left to shoot. Ravi knew Salman, but not as well as we do now.
Ravi went to his house to meet him. Salman lives in a two-room apartment and is the simplest man. The three Khan brothers were in the gym and one by one, they came out wearing shorts, making Ravi ji feel overdressed. Then Salman came out, heard his role and immediately agreed to do the film. He said, he loved this boy (Alok Malhotra, the character he eventually played). concept of his parents is exactly this. He worships them and will do the role.’ He did not ask how much he would be paid. He simply asked where he needed to come for the shoot,” she shared.
Recalling that all of Salman Khan’s scenes were set in London, Renu Chopra said his only request was not to be called for work before 11 am, promising that he wouldn’t leave until the job was done.
News Edit KV Raman
