The normally civil Vidhu Vinod Chopra has recently given us a glimpse of his angry side as he furiously fights back after Farah Khan, Sajid Khan and Anupam Kher made comments about his latest film, Eklavya, heading to the Oscars. “What are the credentials of these people…what is their understanding of cinema…where does their allegiance lie?” He added, “Last year Lage Raho didn’t go, did I, Raju or anybody from my office say why Munnabhai didn’t go, it was a better film. Before that Parineeta didn’t go, Paheli went. Did I say that Shah Rukh made a stupid film. My films didn’t go for two years, I didn’t bother anyone, why are they bothering us now?” Go Vidhu Vinod Chopra!
Even Anupam Kher who worked with Chopra in Parinda and 1942 A Love Story said Chak De India should have been chosen instead. To this, Chopra replies, “Maybe Anupam has worked more with some other Chopra.” Well, that’s certainly a daring comment! Reportedly, Bhavna Talwar whose Dharm was also in the running called Eklavya a boring film. He doesn’t spare her either, firing, “the young filmmaker whose film hasn’t gone, I heard, she has said in Mid Day that Eklavya was a boring film. I can tell her, I saw your film, and I thought it was a load of shit. It’s immature, childish.”
On the other hand, UTV head-honcho has been a source of support for Chopra and actually gave Vidhu advice on how to market the film to increase chances of winning an Oscar.
And to set the record straight, Vidhu slams all rumours that the West wrote bad reviews for the film. In fact, when the film released in February, papers in North America praised the film like no tomorrow. “To the film fraternity that is opposing, let me tell them, LA Times has called Eklavya a lost film of David Lean. I wonder if these people who shoot back side asses of women know who David Lean is. David Lean is the God of Cinema. He made ‘Lawrence of Arabia.’ When I heard it, I had tears in my eyes. New York Times called it a heart of classic. These people need to be educated a little bit about cinema,” he explains.
But one can’t deny the fact that Eklavya was a flop at the box office. Chopra defends his film by asserting, “Parinda was not a huge Box Office success. You know there are filmmakers for whom Box Office success is all that matters. There are others, which I believe I am, who are making films that they believe in. If it succeeds like Lage Raho, we are very happy. But if doesn’t like Eklavya, we are still very happy because we made a film that I believed in.”
You can also catch the full interview tomorrow on Indiafm.com.
