Anubhav Sinha Says ‘Bollywood Wanted Shah Rukh Khan to Fail’ with Ra.One

According to the acclaimed filmmaker Anubhav Sinha, famous for hard-hitting films such as Mulk, Article 15, Thappad, and Anek, recently opens about the making of Ra.One and all the challenges it faced at that time.

The director said that he conceived the film idea back in early 2005 and began writing it the subsequent year. While Shah Rukh Khan was being contacted, no formal agreement had been put into place until suddenly; everything changed by an unexpected event in Berlin.

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Anubhav, who was in talks with The Lallantop, explained how during a press meet, SRK announced it and then boarded the flight back to India. Then there were calls rolling in nonstop for the next eight hours, and Anubhav could not verify the announcement after that. When finally, he got through to SRK, the response was pretty simple: "Why hide it?"

Remembering that Ra.One was nowhere close to the original form of the movie, Anubhav confessed. He also said that money was never a point of concern because Shah Rukh never mentioned budgets. The director added he does not know the actual figures, but he had heard of estimates ranging from 90-120 crores. Yet, even so, he found the dimensions in themselves quite overwhelming. "I lost control of the film," he accepted.

Speaking on the production process, Apoorva indicates that working on such a large film would be a completely new experience for everyone involved. He had managed to be with Shah Rukh Khan for as much as 18 hours a day, working with an Italian cinematographer and an American VFX supervisor, both of whom, he felt, had a better sense of cinema than he did. Still, he credits Shah Rukh Khan's wit and diplomacy as the factors that make sure that he never felt overshadowed. The actor also consulted Anubhav regarding the major calls like casting. Even the decision of bringing Akon on board for Chammak Chalo was initiated by music duo Vishal-Shekhar. Sinha remembers how he called Shah Rukh Khan with that request, and the superstar simply said, "Let me try..." which speaks volumes of his capability to make things happen.

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When asked about the box office figures for the movie, Anubhav was nowhere from putting the blame. He admitted that the stuff had flaws in buff scripting and editing, though he still believes in the plot points, but it is nothing different from the efforts made. In turn, that worked against the film. As far as he concerned, that was about the only thing completely executed: music and visual effects.

Further, he also talked about the negativity which surrounded both Shah Rukh and Ra..One. By the second week of the film in theatres, the realisation dawned on him that it would not live up to the expectations and left him somewhat sad. In a conversation that was held in London, producer Kishore Lulla reassured him that whatever happened at the box office, he and Shah Rukh would still cover their investments. However, Sinha felt that certain people from the industry had actively wished for the movie to fail.

“I have been in the industry long enough to recognise that sentiment,” he remarked. That was most painful for him, to see Shah Rukh Khan accept the film's debacle. “It was heartbreaking because I betrayed the film and his trust in me. I couldn’t deliver a film that he could be proud of.”

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