We took a hit commercially; it was complete depression

Why isn’t she on social media? What’s her take on OTT vs theatres? Actor Rani Mukerji answered all this and more at the inaugural session of FICCI Frames 2024 in Mumbai on Tuesday.

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“I have a bunch of amazing fans who keep promoting me all the time, whether or not I promote myself doing that. I also like to keep a very simple life to myself, because the more we get engaged, the more we have to give our best,” she shared about her absence from social media.

‘OUR FILMS FLOPPED’ While Mukerji is a supporter of online content and platforms, there was a phase during the pandemic when her husband, filmmaker Aditya Chopra, decided not to release his pending films on OTT directly. And they all met a sad fate commercially. Mukerji, opening up on how it was as an insider, revealed, “He had so much conviction that these movies were made for the theatres; he was being offered a lot of money to release all of them on OTT...

But he believed in the power of Indian cinema. When those films came, they all flopped because, post the pandemic, the whole way of how the audiences watched content had changed. We took a hit commercially; it was complete depression. People were sad in our company, and we thought we needed some divine intervention.”

And it seems Pathaan, the Shah Rukh Khan- starrer in January 2023 proved to be that.

SOUTH VS NORTH Mukerji, in conversation with film critic Rajeev Masand, was also asked what were south filmmakers getting right, that they were able to generate hits and Hindi films weren’t in 2023. She replied, “I think in most cases, I won’t say all; they want to still listen to what the audience wants. I think they are still, maybe, simple at heart. I have worked with a lot of South filmmakers in my career. The most fascinating part of that industry is that there’s a lot of unity.”

They (Aditya’s films) flopped because, post the pandemic, the whole way how the audiences watched content had changed. RANI MUKERJI, Actor