‘Pathaan’ director Siddharth Anand claimed he has not seen more than two Marvel movies, and said Bollywood operates with greater limitations than Hollywood.
Mumbai: Bollywood’s pandemic mega-blockbbuster at the box office ‘Pathaan’, starring Shahrukh Khan, has been compared to hit Hollywood franchises such as James Bond, Mission Impossible, Fast and Furious and the Marvel Cinematic Universe(MCU), a special report in the Indian Express, says.
The film is also following in the MCU’s footsteps and introducing a homegrown shared universe, but director Siddharth Anand claimed in a new interview that he isn’t a fan of the superhero genre at all.
Speaking to Gulf News in an interview, he says he has only seen a couple of Marvel movies, and that his 16-year-old son would be the one to tell him if he was coming close to stepping on somebody’s toes.
The filmmaker admitted it makes sense to familiarise himself with current trends in Marvel movies, to avoid repeating what they’ve already done.
Asked if he’s worried his films will be called ‘paler imitations of Hollywood films, Siddharth said, “That’s inevitable, when you make a film that’s beyond the conventions of Bollywood films. You’re instantly compared to Hollywood, which obviously has better infrastructure, better technology, and far bigger budgets. It will always seem like we’re trying to imitate that, but our limitations are much more.
”We also have ambitions, our directors have the ability to mount films, but we’re limited by reach because our films are made in one language, which is Hindi. Our revenues are directly proportional to the budgets we can afford.”
The director also addressed specific comparisons to the MCU films, and said, “I have to admit, I haven’t watched more than two MCU films. I’m not a fan of that genre. I’ve seen a couple of them. My son is a huge fan, and he’s an encyclopedia. He briefs me and keeps me up to date.
The film has made around Rs 350 crore on the domestic marrket, and more than Rs 635 crore worldwide, emerging as the biggest Bollywood hit of the pandemic era, the biggest film of Shah Rukh Khan’s career, and the biggest Hindi film since Siddharth’s own ‘War’, in 2019.
“I have to run my scripts and my sequences past him, and he’ll say, ‘No, dad, this is in that film. No, you can’t do this, this has already been done.’ I’m like, ‘What the hell do I do?’ So, I take ideas from him on how to manoeuvre things around. I think I should get on the bandwagon and start watching those films, so that there’s no overlap.”
‘Pathaan’ has been demolishing records at the box office ever since its release last week.
The film has made around Rs 350 crore on the domestic marrket, and more than Rs 635 crore worldwide, emerging as the biggest Bollywood hit of the pandemic era, the biggest film of Shah Rukh Khan’s career, and the biggest Hindi film since Siddharth’s own ‘War’, in 2019.
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