Amar Kaushik, the director of hit film Stree 2, which collected a whopping ₹550 crore at the Indian box office, recently talked about the poor performance of his previous film, Bhediya.
Although Bhediya is a part of Maddock Films’ growing horror-comedy universe, it bombed with a dismal ₹70 crore net collection in India. Kaushik openly acknowledged two glaring mistakes that made it fail.
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For starters, Bhediya’s release coincided with the Ajay Devgn-led Drishyam 2, which had already generated humongous buzz and ruled theatres. “Sab vahi dekhne ja rahe the (Everyone was going to watch that),” Kaushik said, realizing the intense competition.
Second, the timing was during examination season, ostracizing its student target audience who found out about the movie after its OTT release.
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Kaushik further conceded creative decisions restricted the mass appeal of the film. The offbeat finale, in which both protagonists shape-shift into beasts, was scripted to lead towards a sequel but did not land with broader sections of the population. “I wish I made it differently,” he admitted.
Though it had flopped theatrically, Bhediya became a success on OTT and is now part of Maddock’s extended universe, and Bhediya 2 as well as six other interconnected titles are on the anvil.
