After a stupendous run at the Indian box office, 'Sanju' further gained momentum as it began doing the rounds of various film festivals across the globe. The Rajkumar Hirani directorial was well-received at the New Horizons International Film Festival, Wroclaw, Poland, Indian Film Festival of Melbourne, Australia, and Busan International Film Festival, South Korea. Moreover, it has also been nominated for the category of Best Asian Film at the Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts.
When asked if he anticipated this kind of response for the biopic, Hirani, said, “Films succeed for various reasons. It has to find a connect with the viewers — whether it engages, entertains or evokes some emotion in them, and even makes them think. With Sanju, global audience found a connect with the father-son story and the friend story. It is amazing that not only the Indian audience, but cinema lovers across the globe are enjoying Sanju and giving it so much love.”
The director further added, “The only reason I decided to make this film was that it evoked emotions in me. No one can predict the box-office outcome. I never thought that it would do so well. I would have been happy with half of this response. I knew right from the beginning that not many people wanted to see this film. There was negativity around the subject. But the final response did surprise me.”
'Sanju' broke major records at the Indian box office and is the highest grosser of the year and the third highest grosser of all time.