Sajid on the flak he got for ‘Humshakals’
Filmmaker Sajid Khan says the bashing he got after his last film Humshakals was “unnecessary”.
The 2014 comedy was his second movie in a row that failed at the box office, after Himmatwala.
“After Humshakals, the Sajid Khan bashing which followed, that was a little unnecessary. Genuinely. But I wasn’t like, ‘I’ll show everybody’. No, I have made fun of the film industry for 20 years on TV so that much is justified,” Khan said in an interview.
“For 20 years I did that — this film is a flop, that song is stolen, but I used to do that in jest. Humshakals wasn’t that big a flop. It did business of Rs65 crore [Rs650 million, Dh35.8 million]. With me, people were reviewing me and not my films, which is okay,” he added.
Khan admits that his cocky attitude about his movies did come back to haunt him.
“I think I was very rude. I was making statements for the sake of making one. ‘100 crore? No, my film will do 200 crore, it can never flop.’”
“I used to make those statements without realising it’s going to come back to me someday. I thought, take [criticism], enjoy it, [people] will forget after six months. But if you make statements, they will come back.
“I realised I have to be politically correct and easy. I was taking myself too seriously, I had become rude. Which I don’t think I am anymore,” Khan said.
He also revealed that a change in his relationship status helped him cope.
“I became single last year, so that is also a very big stress buster. I’ll never ever put anything bad about a woman in public or speak negative about a woman. If anybody will ask about my ex, or exes, I will just smile,” he said.
His next film is the Indian adaptation of the Korean romantic-comedy-action film My Girlfriend is an Agent.
The remake has been written by Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani writer Hussain Dalal.
“It took us around nine to ten months to turn it around to My Boyfriend is an Agent,” Khan said.
The 2009 Korean film is about two spies, former lovers who are now sworn enemies, on a mission to stop a crime group.