Manoj Bajpayee Opens Up On The Impact Of Ranbir Kapoor's 'Animal' On 'Joram': 'Box Office Obsession Has Ruined...'

This year, we witnessed some of the biggest blockbusters. Shah Rukh Khan's 'Jawan' and 'Pathaan', Suny Deol's 'Gadar 2' and now Ranbir Kapoor starrer 'Animal' has also joined the rank of 'blockbuster'. Released on December 1, the Sandeep Reddy Vanga directorial is minting moolah at the box office and it has already crossed the Rs 800 crore mark worldwide. Actor Manoj Bajpayee's highly claimed film 'Joram' released on December 8 in theatres and is struggling at the box office. In an interview, Manoj said that he has been against the box-office obsession which has ruined the culture of filmmaking in our country. 

''Numbers being thrown at people’s faces isn’t the right thing to do,'' he told News 18. He feels that ‘even the audience has started speaking that language’ now. The actor explained, “In a conversation with them, they’ll suddenly quote the amount that a film has made. They feel that if a film has collected Rs 100 crore or above, it’s a very good film and that it qualifies for all kinds of honours in this country.”

The 'Gulmohar' actor also said that the filmmakers have become money-minded and come up with tactics to create records and while doing this, it is taking the focus away from the art of storytelling. He also feels this mindset has ruined everything related to the cinema movement and has done so much damage to the aspect of creativity in the film industry. 

Despite earning international accolades at the film festivals, 'Joram' is struggling at the box office. The clash with 'Animal' has highly affected it. When asked if has bothered him. To which Bajpayee said,  “We knew that Animal and Sam Bahadur are two very big films. A lot of money was spent on both films. There was and still a hype around Animal. But we couldn’t afford to spend that much money on our film because Joram was a different kind of a film and we could only allot a certain amount of money to promote and publicise it.”

He added, “We didn’t want to over-burden our film. We were very practical and realistic about it. We knew that we couldn’t be idealistic about the situation and our film. And that’s why the pressure on us was less in terms of earning profits as quickly as possible.”