Dear kareena, no film is beyond box-office collections

AN OPEN LETTER TO THE VERY COMMERCIALLY SAVVY KAREENA KAPOOR KHAN WHO SAYS HER HUSBAND’S _RANGOON_ IS ‘BEYOND BOX-OFFICE COLLECTIONS’. Dear Kareena, Having known you for decades now, and

knowing how well you understand the economics of filmmaking I am surprised at your justifying the crippling failure of your husband’s starrer _Rangoon_ by saying such films are “beyond

box-office collections”. No film is beyond box-office collections. You know it. In many of our past conversations, you have stressed as to why you consider commercial success far more

important than critical acclaim. You have told me very bluntly you would rather do a _Bajrangi_ _Bhaijaan_ than a _Chameli_. And yet here you are, blinded by spousal love and protectiveness,

defending the film’s failure by exempting _Rangoon _from the exigencies of the box-office. You should look at the losses that the production house _Viacom 18_ are  going to suffer because

of Vishal Bhardwaj’s self-indulgent filmmaking. The producers are looking at losses of up to Rs 60 crores. That’s a staggering amount of money to lose for any corporate company. Who is going

to take the blame? Not Saif for sure. He did his work, promoted the film to the best of his abilities and has now moved on. The enormous tragedy of Bollywood filmmaking is that a handful of

stars monopolize the marquee. They take all the credit for the success of a film. But when a film fails they quietly walk away, putting all the blame on the director. > Vishal Bhardwaj 

must rightly accept the blame for the colossal > failure of Rangoon. Kareena, you say, “Vishal Bhardwaj’s films > are art, it is like a painting. You either like his films or you > 

don’t. It is not like a typical commercial film that is going to > cater to everybody’s taste and sensibilities, he caters to a > certain section of audience and that is why some 

critics have > revered it and called it a piece of art.” If Vishal’s films are like a painting then hang them on your wall. Please don’t inflict them on audiences. What  you are trying to

say is, _Rangoon_ is a niche film catering to a selected section of the audience. If so, you don’t spend 80 crores indulging such _niche_ _harkatein_. You make niche films at a reasonable

budget where the break-even point is reached without straining for numbers. Very simply put, you don’t make _Rangoon_ at the budget of _Bajrangi_ _Bhaijaan_. > It’s simple economics. I am

 surprised the producers fell for > Rangoon. Look at it, and you know why we have reached a crisis point > in the Hindi film industry. Published: 04 Mar 2017, 11:25 AM IST