Film’s success important for self-confidence: Anees Bazmee

By Sugandha Rawal

New Delhi, Feb 7 (IANS) He has often hit the jackpot with his directorials but there were times when his movies went unnoticed. Director Anees Bazmee says having a hit is very important, not only to boost one's career, but self-confidence as well.

Bazmee made a name for himself by making people laugh with his entertaining projects like "Pyaar To Hona Hi Tha", "No Entry", "Welcome", "Singh Is Kinng" and "Ready". He failed to elicit the expected response with "Deewangee", "Sandwich", "No Problem", "Thank You" and "Mubarakan".

But how important is it to have a hit added to one's resume in Bollywood?

"It is very important because people start trusting you, thinking that you make good films. And everything else falls into place easily. Otherwise, it becomes tough when films are not working well," Bazmee told IANS on the phone.

"People get confidence in your work after you deliver a hit. You can make a film on the scale you wish to as people are willing to invest money in your project. Otherwise, they start cutting on all these things.

"I think having a successful film is also very important for self-confidence because you think that people have accepted your vision and that means you are on the right track," he added.

And then there are days when he revisits the idea of his old projects and thinks that he could have done a better job.

"But every film comes as an experience, and there is no shortcut to that."

Looking forward, he is working on "Pagalpanti", which stars Anil Kapoor, John Abraham, Ileana D'Cruz and Arshad Warsi. This will be followed by "Aankhen 2" -- a sequel to the 2002 heist thriller drama film "Aankhen".

Talking about "Pagalpanti", he said: "Everyone is so excited about the film. We are leaving to shoot the film in London soon. We will be shooting there for more than two months. As the name suggests, the film will be high on 'masti' (fun). It will be a hardcore commercial film, full of madness, lots of comedy, good songs and action."

Produced by Bhushan Kumar, Kumar Mangat and Abhishek Pathak, the comedy also features Pulkit Samrat, Kriti Kharbanda, Urvashi Rautela and Saurabh Shukla. It will go on the floors from February 17, and is slated to release on December 6 this year.

(Sugandha Rawal can be contacted at sugandha.r@ians.in)