Main Aur Mrs. Khanna turned out to be this year’s Diwali dud. The film was panned by critics, totally disliked by audiences and booed at by Salman Khan and Kareena Kapoor fans. Director Prem Soni was convinced after the debacle that his directorial career had literally been thrown out the window with his fiasco debut film. However, the director was in for a real humbling experience when Salman hugged the director at a family gathering and said, “No matter what people say about Khanna, you are doing our next film.” Soni was stumped for words but of course humbled.
“The way Main Aurr Mrs Khanna has been received, I thought no one would want to touch me with a bargepole. So many announcements go down the drain if the first film doesn’t work… was almost as if we made the worst film on this earth. I could smell the resentment against the film. There was definitely an attempt to write it off on the day of release,” Soni justifies.
While Kareena chose to limit herself in aiding the films publicity, Salman went all out, “He completely believed in my film and his character. But since he was already so visible for Wanted, we decided to go easy on the publicity for Mrs Khanna. We were wrong. This was a different Salman and a different film. Not that aggressive promotion helps. But aggressive anti-publicity surely damaged my film,” he added.
However, the director added that whatever the case may be at home, the film has been accepted wholeheartedly by audiences in Australia where the film has been shot.
