During an exclusive conversation with Filmfare, he said, “I don’t think this is a message-oriented film. It’s a beautiful story of a family. It’s about a man standing for his home, for his land and it is told in a very realistic and entertaining manner. Of course, there is a subtle message but nothing is being propagated.”
Arbaaz emphasised that the film is about national integration and the love between the Hindu and Sikh communities. “There was a lot of research done on the era where instances of these kinds have happened. The film is based on these inspired incidents. A character has been created, probably from some real-life character, but in an inspired way, to tell a similar story, which is close to real-life story. But it is a film on national integration, it is about the love of communities. There are certain activities intended to break this harmony, but it does not happen. It’s a film about a common man standing for his rights. So it’s an entertainer and a commercial film with instances of what you can relate to in real life,” he added.
Films with intense themes often risk facing backlash. Especially with social media providing a platform to all, artists often find themselves on the receiving end of negativity.
When asked about boycotts and trolling, Arbaz explained, “If you keep giving importance to these things, this is not going to stop. The only way is to ignore it and turn a blind eye to it. The person about whom something is being said is not responding but others are responding on his behalf. If you notice, and I can guarantee you, that in our experience of being on social media if at all we have put a comment on any post, it has been a good comment. We have never put out a negative comment. And that speaks a lot about the person.”
He highlighted that despite numerous positive responses, one focus always turns to the negative ones. “And the unfortunate part is that the negative statements get highlighted. If we see someone saying something good, we ignore that, but if anyone says even one negative thing- that unfortunately becomes news. Not just us, everybody should ignore it. Then the issue will die down. But we are not letting it die down, because somewhere we are all responsible for giving it attention.”
Even Arbaaz admitted it’s difficult to stay unaffected by negativity. “Even my attention goes out to the negative comments, and it stays in my mind. I used to block these comments and not keep myself open to those, but I was told that if I didn’t interact with people or block them, my followers would not increase. However, you have to move on from these things. As much as we like to think that these things do not have any impact but cyberbullying, particularly with young innocent children, they have a very big, deep impact on them. Kids go through psychological problems, I have heard some of them commit suicide because of the kind of trolling or accusations levelled on them or their families.”
Despite everything, Arbaaz believes the audience’s verdict is paramount and takes precedence over anything else. Even box-office numbers. He said, “One parameter of knowing whether your film is a success is the fact that audiences go to the theatres to see it, and the box office collection is a direct reflection of how your movie is doing. But the audience is king. They are the ones who are going to decide if your film works. Don’t get disheartened, because we never know what is going to work. But, the point is that you can’t ignore the audience.”
The producer further expressed his trust in the audience. “I have seen this quite often that when a film does not do well, the makers say that people have not understood the film or the film before time. Then why would you make a film if you felt they wouldn’t understand it? So never blame the audience. They are the ones who bring you where you are.”
Arbaaz Khan’s latest production venture Banda Singha Chaudhary is currently in theatres. The film stars Arshad Warsi and Meher Vij in the lead roles, with Abhishek Saxena helming the film.
