Varun Dhawan, Kiara Advani, Neetu Kapoor and Anil Kapoor’s Jugjugg Jeeyo has kept the ball rolling at the box office. The film recorded a decent opening weekend box office collection of Rs. 39 crores and surpassed Rs 50 crore-mark within its first week. With the film continuing to have an impressive run at the box office, director Raj Mehta sat down for a candid chat with us about the success of Jugjugg Jeeyo and his next film Selfiee.
Read an excerpt from our chat below:
How have the reactions been?
Amazing reactions to be honest with you. Better than I did for my first film, Good Newwz. I mean, I’ve got messages on my WhatsApp and my social media, from friends, family, and random industry people as well. And otherwise as well. The reaction has been great, touchwood. Of course, there are always some that did not enjoy it as much. But that’s the beauty of a film, right? Because a masterpiece for you could be garbage from others so… I’m really overwhelmed with the reaction.
Is there a particular reaction that took you by surprise?
I have friends in the US and they’re not Hindi film buffs at all. But they all went because it was my film and I pushed them too. But there was one of my friends who’s a hardcore non-film person called me and had tears in his eyes. He’s someone whose parents are gone through this so he really loved it. And that just, you know, for a filmmaker, that’s just what makes you really happy when people love it. And you get reactions like that from unexpected quarters.
The box office collection has been really good. But before the release, given how uncertain the box office has become, was there a sense of pressure?
There’s always pressure, for sure. I think more for the people like the producers and the actors. For me as a filmmaker, there is pressure. Yes, of course. And we were happy with the kind of response we got. And I think the reviews started coming in on Thursday. And they were great. So we were really happy. But yes, you’re right, that the times are such that you can never predict anything right now. So extremely happy with the love the film has got so far, and even the numbers we’ve done. But yeah, I mean, as a filmmaker, you always wish thoda sa aur hota so that is always there. But we’re extremely happy.
What do you think has changed after the pandemic, because this haywire graph at the box office is a post-pandemic phenomenon?
You know, can I tell you? I don’t think anybody knows. I mean, I hear new theories every day. And I think people are coming up with new theories. I go through Twitter, and everyone has new things about how event films will work and commercial films would work and so this new stuff comes up every day. One thing is for sure the viewing habits have certainly changed. And it’s going to take a lot more to encourage people to go to the theaters to watch a film where they have so much content available at home. So that challenge is there. But in terms of what kinds of films will work and what won’t, I don’t think there’s a uniform pattern. There is just a film-to-film thing right now. I don’t think anybody knows, hopefully in the next few months, and with time we’ll discover what the habits are. But as of now, I think it’s nobody, nobody knows, really.
Shifting to the elements in the movie, I want to know who’s idea was to feature an empty theatre with Kalank playing on the big screen?
It was done on instinct. But when we, me and my writer Rishhabh Sharrma, were writing it, we just thought it was Varun and we could have some fun with it. It did get a few giggles. Of course, I was very wary of making sure that I tell Abhishek about this. We had a chat with him, Varun had a chat with him and we were just having fun with it.
What was Karan Johar’s reaction to the scene?
He was laughing when he saw it. He was really, really laughing and more than Karan, I think, it’s eventually Abhishek’s baby. So Varun had mentioned it to him about this and he was extremely cool with it. You got to have a little bit of fun, you know. Not at anybody’s cost for sure. I’d like to put this on record that I feel Kalank was something that I don’t think it’s easy for filmmakers to create.
I noticed that first with Good Newwz and now with Jugjugg Jeeyo, the male characters in your movie are a little problematic. Is it a conscious decision to write the characters in such a way?
Oh wow, I didn’t think of that. No, not not a conscious choice at all. That’s just how the story was structured. And yes, I just feel like it’s important for me, as a filmmaker and a writer, to make sure the characters have a certain class. If they start at point A, they don’t end up at point A itself by the end of it, they should grow and move on from there somewhere. So the graph is important. But in terms of making problematic characters, not really, I think it’s just by accident that the two stories had them.
I also noticed that — and I think this is me overanalysing — but the scene in which Neetu Kapoor confronts Tisca Chopra over her affair with Anil Kapoor and even decides to let her have him felt like a Judaai throwback. Was it a nod to the film or is it just me overthinking?
No, till the point you said it right now, we never thought of that, actually. We actually designed the Neetu, Tisca, and Anil scene in the way it is shown in Jugjugg Jeeyo. But no, the comparison to Judaai never came to my mind. Now that you’ve said I’m thinking of it. But no, that was how Geeta’s character was for me. Never, never really thought of the comparison.
You gave audiences both — a happy ending with Varun and Kiara and a realistic ending with Neetu and Anil. Did you want to give both endings so that a section of the audience doesn’t feel bad because of the whole ‘Happy Ending’ syndrome?
We didn’t think of that way ke dono dena padega in order to satisfy the audience. But yes, the way the two couples’ graphs were, I just saw it as a slide. And to be very honest with you, we contemplated whether Geeta (Neetu), should divorce Bhim at all in the end. We were discussing how that would be perceived and received. But we stuck to what the story was original, how we thought of it, where I think it was her way of sort of liberating herself. And, of course, we ended it on a slightly hopeful note. It wasn’t a deliberate decision (to show two different endings), that’s how the screenplay and story were structured.
So, in Good Newwz, Diljit Dosanjh and Kiara Advani’s Batra are based out of Punjab. In Jugjugg Jeeyo, the Sainis are based out of Punjab. So, will we have a crossover or maybe even have a Raj Mehta Punjabi universe?
Someone brought it up the other day also (about it). But I didn’t think about that. But that’s a good idea — the Batras and the Sainis could come together. Let me think about that. Yes, but they’ll have to be a kickass story in order for that to happen. But definitely, now that you bring it up, I’m gonna give it a thought and discuss it!
Your next movie is Selfiee, which is very different from the previous two projects. So could you tell us a little about that?
We’ve not completed shooting it but it’s a lovely story. We’ve tried to adapt the original in our own way. And we’ve shot about 90 percent of it already. We shot in Bhopal. I can’t tell you much about the film right now because honestly, I also have just footage, I haven’t put it together. I am yet to edit it to put it together, hopefully, it turns out the way we want it to be. But we had a great time shooting it. And I had a great time shooting with Akshay sir again, and there was Emraan, with who I had a ball working, and of course, there was Diana and Nushrat as well. So we had a great time working on it.
