Actor Adah Sharma is riding high on the success of The Kerala Story. Despite several controversies, legal trials and demands for a ban, the film has crossed Rs 150 crore-mark at the box office. In fact, the success of The Kerala Story has also made Adah Sharma the highest grossing Bollywood actress for a female-led film. The record was previously held by Kangana Ranaut and Alia Bhatt, thanks to their respective blockbusters Tanu Weds Manu Returns (Rs 150 crore) and Gagubai Kathiawadi (Rs 132 crore).
In an exclusive chat with News18, Adah Sharma reacts to creating a record, her first in a career spanning 15 years. Not the one to keep a tab on the business of films, she tells us, “I didn’t even know this was a record that we broke. People were running in a race where I wasn’t even participating.”
Attributing this big feat to the audience, who are swarming cinema halls to catch the film, Adah says, “These things are not in our hands. We just make films, it is the audience who decides the fate of a film. They buy tickets and determines whether the movie does well or not. They decide which scenes they would like to clap to and whistle at. The Kerala Story has just proved that it is all in the audience’s hands.”
Not just Tanu Weds Manu Returns and Gangubai Kathiawadi, The Kerala Story has also left Salman Khan’s Kisi Ka Bhai Kisi Ki Jaan behind as it recorded the highest single day number on its second Sunday. Ask her about it and Adah squeals, “Oh mine! I don’t know numbers and I’m very bad at box office numbers. I don’t know whose film has done well or whose hasn’t.” So, how has she been keeping herself updated about the records that her biggest film till date is shattering? “As far as the numbers for our film go, we’ve a WhatsApp group where all the collections and latest numbers are being shared. So, whenever the numbers are high, then I know that more people have gone to watch it and that makes me very happy,” she says.
However, The Kerala Story has been facing backlash from a section of political parties and groups who have claimed that the film is not based on facts, and propagates hatred against the Muslim community. Last week, working president of the Bharat Rashtra Samiti (BRS) KT Rama Rao had taken a jibe at the film, tweeting, “Just the way The Kerala Story failed to amuse people of Karnataka, similarly Karnataka election results will have no bearing on Telangana.” He also thanked the people of Karnataka for rejecting “ugly and divisive politics”.
But Adah Sharma clarifies that The Kerala Story has nothing to do with the recently concluded Karnataka elections. “Now people can’t even say that elections ki wajah se jaa rahe hai because elections are over. I think they’ve realised that the merit stands with the movie now,” she adds.
Apart from it being a personal win, the Hasee Toh Phasee (2014) actor is elated as her film has put an end to the economic slump that the film industry was going through. “I’ve always felt happy whenever any movie has done well in the Indian film industry. People are going back to the theatres again. Theatre owners are thanking us as they feel that our film has got the crowds back to theatres. So many people’s jobs were at risk and I’m so happy that we have managed to pull the audiences back. It feels so nice!” she remarks.
Adah further tells us that she wouldn’t want to engage and indulge in comparisons of The Kerala Story’s with any other films but would rather revel in the fact that she got to tell a story that needed attention. “People are watching the film, theatres are ringing in celebration and we are the cause of it. It feels absolutely amazing. I don’t know about comparisons with the box office numbers of other films as I’ve never understood the business of films and I’m glad that I don’t. I’ll leave it to the trade analysts because they check the percentages,” she states.
Comments
0 comment