The 2019 action drama film Sonchiriya, starring Sushant Singh Rajput, Bhumi Pednekar, Ashutosh Rana, Manoj Bajpayee, and Ranveer Shorey, was a commercial failure but received critical acclaim for its performances, writing, cinematography, and brilliant direction by Abhishek Chaubey.
Bhumi Pednekar, whose latest release Afwaah co-starring Nawazuddin Siddiqui hit the theatres this Friday, i.e. May 5, addressed the box office failure of Sonchiriya while talking to the former critic Rajeev Masand at the recently held FICCI Frames Event 2023. The actress stated that it broke her heart when the film was out of theatres within six days.
The actress said, "When I did Sonchiriya, it was off the theatres in six days. It was maybe my first heartbreak because every film of mine was a blockbuster before that. The four films (Dum Laga Ke Haisha, Toilet Ek Prem Katha, Shubh Mangal Saavdhan, Lust Stories) I did before that, did incredible numbers and travelled really well. I am on an all-time high, and then came Sonchiriya, a film I was so attached to because I gave that film eight months of my life. I felt like it was one of those films that has everything including good content. But the film was off cinemas in six days, and it really broke my heart."
"But the film still lives on. When people talk about my filmography, they first mention Dum Laga Ke Haisha and then they mention Sonchiriya. Some directors have given me work after watching me in Sonchiriya. So maybe it did not find a larger audience but it did find an audience", the actress added talking about how the film found its audience later.
Sonchiriya earned eleven nominations at the 65th Filmfare Awards in 2020 and ended up winning two of them including Best Film - Critics, which it jointly won with Anubhav Sinha and Ayushmann Khurrana's Article 15, and Best Costume Design. The film is now streaming on ZEE5.
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