Mumbai: Director Anurag Basu is happy that Ranbir Kapoor stood by him when the actor’s father Rishi Kapoor blamed him for the failure of “Jagga Jasoos”.
Basu and Kapoor’s first collaboration “Barfi” was highly appreciated but their second outing “Jagga Jasoos” failed to make a mark at the box office.
Calling Basu an “irresponsible” director, Rishi Kapoor had earlier lashed out at him for not completing the film in time and claimed that Ranbir, being the producer, did not get a chance to see the final product a day before its release.
However, Ranbir recently came out in defence of Basu, saying while he does not agree with Rishi’s criticism of “Jagga Jasoos”, his father was only trying to protect him.
“It is sweet of him (Ranbir) to say (such) things. It is difficult to give a statement like that,” Basu told PTI, when asked about Ranbir supporting him.
The director said he will re-team with Ranbir for a film. “I will definitely work with him (again).”
Recently, Rishi also said on a show that both Basu and Anurag Kashyap, who worked with Ranbir in “Bombay Velvet”, could not handle big budget films.
To this, Basu said, “I am happy with the statement that today people know Anurag Basu and Anurag Kashyap are two different people. I am not hurt. When you make a film you get both good and not so good feedback.
“Mr Amitabh Bachchan said a very sweet thing on Twitter after watching the film and I felt very happy. If I am happy with good comments then I should be ready for negative feedback as well.”
The “Life in a Metro” director said “Jagga Jasoos” was primarily aimed at children. Talking about the poor response to the film, Basu said, “During the promotions, we maintained that the film is meant for children. We did a lot of things in the film for kids, an adult mind might question few things.
“I am satisfied with the response as not a single kid has come to me saying he/she found it (film) lengthy and boring. I would have been disappointed if kids would not have liked the film. I think kids did not go to watch the film in large numbers (that maybe the reason for failure).”
About two weeks back, a major fire broke out at RK Studios, where the first season of Basu’s dance reality show “Super Dancer” was shot. “It is a sad and unfortunate incident. I have been shooting there since my television days. I remember seeing archives which are burnt now. I feel sad for Ranbir,” he said.
The director, however, is happy to return as a judge for “Super Dancer Chapter 2”, which premieres on September 30 on Sony Entertainment Television.
PTI