‘I expected it a little bit more but…’

Anurag Kashyap on Nishaanchi’s box office failure

Anurag Kashyap’s last directorial film Nishaanchi created a bombshell at the box office after its release on September 19. The crime drama was about the intertwined lives of twin brothers Babloo and Dabloo, set against the backdrop of the Hindi heartland. Aaishvary Thackray, who made her debut in the film, essayed the dual role of the siblings along with Vedika Pinto, Monika Panwar, Kumud Mishra and Mohd. Zeeshan Ayyub. Two months later, Nishaanchi and its sequel Nishaanchi 2 were quietly dropped on Amazon Prime Video on November 14.

Kashyap will next be seen in action drama Dacoit, which also stars Adivi Sesh and Mrunal Thakur and will release on March 19. At the teaser launch of Dacoit in Mumbai on December 18, the filmmaker was asked about the failure of Nishaanchi. “You’ve had other films this year in different capacities, as a producer, as a presenter, this time as an actor. Your directorial venture Nishaanchi was truly a passion project and as your films usually do, you know, it gains a cult following over the years; I think Nishaanchi will have pretty much a similar situation. But were you disappointed or upset with the response the film received at the box office?”, asked a journalist at the event.

The Bombay Velvet director replied, “No, no, I’m used to it,” which made everyone laugh. He added, “Yes, I was probably expecting a little more and thought maybe the audience and I are movie guys. But then on the second day I realized (Nishaanchi was going to fail). Then we decided to bring both the parts together on OTT since it is a film produced by Amazon.”

Coming back to Dacoit, the action drama will be released in Hindi and Telugu. This film will clash at the box office with the much-awaited Ranveer Singh, Aditya Dhar’s Dhurandhar Part 2: Revenge and Yash’s pan-Indian gangster drama Toxic: A Fairy Tale for Grown-Ups, which also stars Nayanthara, Kiara Advani, Rukmini Vasanth and Huma Kureshi.

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