film producer Vidhu Vinod Chopraof”Shikara“It may not have been a box office success, but it resonated with the Oscar-winning director. James Cameron Who remembered his favorite movie”doctor zhivago” when he saw this Hindi movie. The “12” director was speaking at a conference on the first day of IFP Season 14, where he recalled his close relationship with “12”.Avatar“The filmmaker had a glass of wine.
“Shikara” tells the love story of a Kashmiri couple, set against the backdrop of the exodus of Kashmiri Pandits in the 1990s.
Chopra said his team asked him if he had read reactions to the 2020 film on social media, but he was focused on his next project.
“I didn’t see the failure because when James Cameron was watching this movie in New Zealand, he came up to me and said, ‘This movie reminds me of my favorite movie in the world, Doctor Zhivago. ,” he said. A love story set in war-torn Russia in 1965.
Cameron isn’t much of a drinker, but he and Chopra sat in the cinema and had a drink.
“Three bottles of wine were arranged for us while he was filming Avatar[the sequel]and we drank until the wee hours of the morning. That to me is success. Your success or failure is up to you. All you have to do is make it at this point.
The filmmaker said he plans to re-release “Shikara”, originally titled “Love Letters from Kashmir,” next year.
Chopra, also known for directing films such as “Parinda”, “1942: A Love Story” and “Mission Kashmir”, said that despite his first home production “Munnabai MBBS“” (2003) failed at the box office, he believed in the director Rajkumar Hiranivision.
“When Munna Bhai MBBS was released, it flopped on day one and no one went to watch it.”
He wanted to sell it to a distributor in south India, who promised to pay 1.1 million rupees for the film. After watching the movie, he said “Munna Bhai MBBS” would not operate outside the Mumbai suburb of Borivali and the deal fell through.
“We managed to get an early show at a theater in Tamil Nadu and the film collected over Rs 1 crore at the box office,” recalls the filmmaker.
When Hirani met him a day after the film’s release, Chopra said he gave him 11,000 rupees.
“But he said, ‘I won’t accept it because the film failed.’ I told him, ‘I’ll pay you for the next film.’ He ended up getting Rs 11 lakh, Rs 51 lakh. , one Crores of rupees, God knows how many rupees…(it worked very well),” he said.
“Don’t lose your belief system because this industry is going to try to corrupt your soul and say, ‘Do this or that, that’s what sells’… I believe in this movie,” he added.
