Hrithik Roshan starred in the Hindi remake of Tamil hit Vikram Vedha this year. The film, which also starred Saif Ali Khan, was expected to do well at the box office. Bu alas, the film failed to even recover its investment despite good reviews. In a new interview, Hrithik has opened up on the film not doing well and how it affected him.
Vikram Vedha was directed by Pushkar-Gayathri, who also helmed the 2017 original. The Tamil film starred Vijay Sethupathi and Madhavan and was a commercial ad critical success. The Hindi remake was mounted on a much larger scale with a reportd budget of Rs 100 crore. But the film managed to earn only Rs 84 crore in India.
Speaking about the film with Galatta Plus, Hrithik said, “Vikram Vedha released, and it didn’t fare well at the box office at all. And the feedback that I got was… Of course, there are different parts of me that are conflicted about what I should learn from this, and I think it’ll dawn on me much later, but right now I know that it is not, maybe, something that people like to see me do. Maybe I’m not allowed to do roles where I’m not catering to my fans who want to see me in a certain film, with a certain backdrop, in a certain way. If I choose to do those kind of films, I have to treat them different, as in myself — economically, budget-wise, cost-wise.”
Talking about how the film’s failure affected him and his creative and career choices, the actor added, “I say this now, that I will think twice before doing a role which does not cater to the fans, but of course, when I hear a story, the actor in me takes precedence, and I always say yes if I can’t say no. But there is a part of me that is aware, that maybe the way to go is films like War and Fighter, and try to find the artist in me within these spaces. I’m also hopeful that this might not be the reason, that this was not a film that was meant for a Rs 300 crore box office. I just have to recalibrate.”
Hrithik will be next seen in Fighter, which also stars Deepika Padukone. The actor is also rumoured to have cameo appearances in Shah Rukh Khan-starrer Pathaan and Salman Khan’s Tiger 3. Both these films are slated to be released in 2023.
