Sanjay Leela Bhansali on ‘Dilwale’s’ success

Filmmaker Sanjay Leela Bhansali, whose film Bajirao Mastani clashed with Dilwale, says the Shah Rukh Khan film got a boost from the lead actor’s superstar status.

“He is such a big star that even if [his film released] on any day, he would have got a good opening,” Bhansali said.

“We are happy creating [Bajirao Mastani] and seeing it. It was magic. There was some blessing of God constantly on the film so I knew it will start a little slow but we will eventually catch up,” he added.

Dilwale reportedly made Rs210 million (Dh25.3 million) on the first day of its release in India. It went on to collect Rs751.8 million in the first four days.

Meanwhile, Bajirao Mastani earned Rs128 million on day one in India, and saw a surge in collections on subsequent days. It made Rs570.2 million in four days.

Bhansali is happy that word of mouth has helped Bajirao Mastani gain momentum at the box office.

“It is heartening to know that people are loving our film, so all the numbers and mathematics eventually collapse when you like a film or you don’t like a film. So, when I have more number of screens but if people don’t like the film it doesn’t matter,” he said.

“The repeat value is important. Love of the people to experience this world of Bajirao Mastani is important,” he added.

The historic drama is about the Indian warrior Peshwa Bajirao and his second wife, Mastani.

Dilwale, directed by Rohit Shetty, is an action comedy.