We thought we were making a blockbuster

Down but not out’ could have been coined for Nikhil Advani. He comes to terms with CC2C, defends it and lists his mistakes

Though he’s sprawled out in his office, the picture of ‘cool’, emotions seethe within Nikhil Advani when he speaks about his completely detested and disdained Chandni Chowk to China. Tell him the film is being called the worst Bollywood film ever and he retorts that he has been in cinema houses and while some may have had the same opinion as us; there are plenty who have been laughing uproariously. His sense of humour reiterates itself when he says he doesn’t know if they were laughing at the film or with it.He’s curious about why he was expected to make a masterpiece when he had clearly said he was making a mindless entertainer. Point out that with his first film Kal Ho Naa Ho he set a benchmark that has consistently fallen with Salaam-e-Ishq and now CC2C and we are now trying to figure out who he is and he nods figuratively. He is too. “ I don’t know what a film by me is supposed to be. I want to make films which people connect emotionally with whether that emotion is laughter, tears, horror, anger or romance. It might take me forever to find myself or I might never do so.”What he does admit though is the mistake of having excessive toilet humour in a film aimed at children. “I wanted to cater to both children and the front benchers but that obviously didn’t work,” he says wryly. “But also the use of toilet humour was justified by the character that Akshay plays. He was a cook from Chandni Chowk, a guy from the street. If he’s hit on the nuts he’s going to say so loud and clear. How could I sanitise that?”“Right at the outset I had told Akshay that if any critic gave this film more than two stars, we would have to check if the reviewer was in his right mind. That’s how brainless, and illogical it was supposed to be.”Nikhil pooh poohs the reports that Akshay Kumar has decided to cut down the comedy quotient in his newer films following the debacle of CC2C. “I have been meeting Akshay everyday and he hasn’t said anything like that to me, in fact my next film with him is a comedy too. But like the rest of us he is confused. We all thought we were making a blockbuster, a sure-shot hit.” Some lessons have been learnt. “The most important thing is to take time; on the script, on the process, and to show the film to as many people as possible. I have made the mistake of not doing so with all my films. If I had shown CC2C around I would have known what the audience wanted, maybe someone would have told me what you are saying today about toilet humour. I need to connect with myself and the people I am making films for.”