The hopes of the filmmakers shattered on July 22 after #BoycottShamshera started trending on different social media platforms. While some compared it to Thugs Of Hindostan, the hatred for the Ranbir Kapoor starrer was quite obvious from the box office collection.
Director Karan Malhotra certainly was disheartened after the big-budget action movie tanked at the box office and was away from the media glare. After around a week, he penned a note and apologised for "abandoning" the film.
After the helmer, it was Sanjay Dutt, who portrayed the character of antagonist Daroga Shuddh Singh in Shamshera. Earlier, Sanju Baba has multiple times showcased his onscreen evil personality and has won the hearts of movie lovers; be it Agneepath's Kanchacheena or the recent blockbuster flick KGF Chapter2's Adheera.
However, this time, Sanju baba failed to mesmerise a large section of the audience.
Expressing his feeling, 'Munna Bhai' shared a note on Twitter which reads, "Films are acts of passion,- Passion to tell a story, to bring to life characters you've never met before. Shamshera is one such labour of love to which we gave our all. It's a movie made up of blood, sweat and tears. It's a dream that we brought on screen. Movies are made for audiences to relish. And every movie finds its viewers, sooner or later."
Further, the post read, "Shamshera found a lot of people hating on it; some of the hate came from people who didn't even watch it. I find it horrible that people don't respect the hard work we all put in. I admire Karan as a filmmaker, and mostly as a person. he is one of the best directors I have worked with in my long career of four decades. he has the knack of giving characters that stroke a chord. We did that with Agneepath, where he gave me Kancha Cheena to play. The process of working on it was brilliant. he trusted me again with Shamshera and what a ball of a time we had making this films, and bringing to life Shuddh Singh."
"Karan is like family and success or failure aside, it will always be an honour to work him. I stand by him always. Shamshera will find its tribe someday but until it does, I stand resolute with the film, the memories we created, the bond we shared, the laughs we had, the hardships we went through," Sanju added.
On the other hand, Ranbir is yet to react on the matter.
The call to boycott the movie started on grounds of accusing the makers of hurting the Hindu sentiments through the movie and the characters in it.
Though Shamshera got a 7.7 IMDb rating, the movie met with a tragic fate in its first weekend itself. Going through a rough collection on the weekdays, with Rs 2.30 crore on Day 6 the total box office collection of Shamshera would now stand at Rs 39.75 crore.
Reportedly, the movie's opening day collection was Rs 10.25 crore. During the first weekend, Shamshera earned a mere Rs 31 crore.
If such a trend continues for Shamshera, movie analysts have been speculating that it would wrap up with a gross lifetime collection below Rs 50 crore.
It was earlier speculated that Ranbir would make a thumping comeback after a gap of four years with Shamshera. This movie marked several firsts including RK's double role, his onscreen pairing with Vaani Kapoor and locking horns with Sanjay Dutt. However, the excitement for 'Real Sanju vs Reel Sanju' faded in theatres.
Notably, Ranbir is also gearing up for another highly anticipated movie 'Brahmastra: Part One- Shiva' which also stars Alia Bhatt, Amitabh Bachchan, Nagarjuna and Mouni Roy among others. Will Shamshera's debacle impact Brahmastra's performance?