Director Anurag Basu says the delay of his forthcoming project Jagga Jasoos won’t affect its response at the box office if it has been made well.
Basu says Katrina Kaif and Ranbir Kapoor, who were dating each other earlier and are the film’s leads, behaved like “professionals” on the set of Jagga Jasoos.
“I think time doesn’t matter. If a film has to work, than it will work anytime. If we have made it well, then it will definitely be a hit irrespective of the delay in its release. If it’s not made well than it would have flopped even when it was released without delay,” he said.
“Today the audience is very smart. They sniff whether a film is good or bad. They’ll wait, see the teaser and trailer, and then decide whether to watch it or not. This is how we communicate our film.
“You can do any other thing. Whether Ranbir or Katrina were dating or they had a break-up, that doesn’t matters. They behaved like professionals on set. A film speaks for itself and we all know that,” added the director, who was in New Delhi on Wednesday to promote the auditions of Super Dancer, which will take place on Saturday.
Basu, who has directed films such as Life in a ... Metro, Kites, Gangster and Murder, is also co-producing Jagga Jasoos along with Kapoor under their banner, Picture Shuru Productions.
Asked about the reason behind the delay in the film’s release, Basu explained: “I don’t think the film has been delayed that much. I’ll say that it has got delayed by six months only.
“I was expecting it to get released by 2016 end. Delay is again a media perception actually because Ranbir was always supposed to finish films of Anurag Kashyap, Imtiaz Ali and Karan Johar. Then he was supposed to do my film because he committed [to] them before my film.
Basu said that to work with the Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani star again, he will have to wait for his other work commitments.
“Ranbir is committed to Ayan Mukherjee’s next [project]. Now if I have to work with Ranbir again after Jagga Jasoos, then I can only do it after Ayan and Rajkumar Hirani’s films. He is very clear about his line-up of films and he doesn’t changes them because of hit and flops. He releases a film with respect to the line-up that he has committed to everyone,” Basu said.
Basu said as producers he and Kapoor took risks with the movie.
“I have been producing films since Life in a metro. But Jagga Jasoos is my and Ranbir’s first film under Picture Shuru Productions. As it was our home production, so we were pretty relaxed. We took some leverage while making the film,” Basu joked.
Has he finalised any release date for Jagga Jasoos?
Basu said: “Not really. I am also waiting for a release date. I hope that it will be announced very soon. But yes the film is ready for release.”
