Vikram Vedha directors Pushkar-Gayatri talk about box office clash with Ponniyin Selvan | Exclusive

Starring Saif Ali Khan and Hrithik Roshan in the leading roles, the neo-noir action thriller Vikram Vedha is one of the most anticipated films of the year. The Pushkar-Gayatri directorial is set to clash with Mani Ratnam's magnum opus Ponniyin Selvan: I starring Chiyaan Vikram, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Jayam Ravi, Karthi, and Prakash Raj among others, at the box office on September 30.

In June 2022, we at DNA caught up with the husband-wife filmmaking duo of Pushkar-Gayatri when their debut web series Suzhal: The Vortex, a dark crime thriller set around the nine days of the fascinating Mayana Kollai festival, was released. In our conversation, we even asked them about the upcoming clash.

Talking about the same, Pushkar said, "I think India is a large enough market. It can easily accommodate a couple of films at the same time so we don't look at it as a clash, we just hope that a lot of people come to the theatres and watch". Gayatri chipped in and added, "All the films (should) do well actually."

Pushkar further continued, "Yeah, we would love for more films to do extremely well and I wish both the films have incredible openings and a great first weekend and all those things that the great people will go for and more importantly, we hope the people love the film."

READ | Vikram Vedha directors Pushkar-Gayatri open up on South remakes, talent crossover in Indian cinema | Exclusive

An official remake of their own Tamil blockbuster, Vikram Vedha sees Saif and Hrithik playing the roles originally played by R. Madhavan and Vijay Sethupathi in the 2017 film. In our chat, we even asked the directors why didn't they choose to cast R. Madhavan in the Bollywood remake as well, considering his major popularity among Hindi-speaking audiences.

 

 

 

 

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Pushkar answered, "I think there was a balance of casting we all of us were looking for. Maddy (Madhavan) had also started Rocketry by then so there were logistical issues. I think this is the cast that ultimately fell into place and we got two superb performers at the end of it." 

"I think it is like working with new people also. We believe that 50% is the script and 50% is what the actors bring in so we have two very confident actors (Hrithik and Saif) so it was like the same script, but a different film", Gayatri concluded.