Did You Know? Rohit Shetty Once Said “Chennai Express Wasn’t A Shah Rukh Khan Film, But A Deepika Padukone Film”(Photo Credit – Instagram/Imdb)
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Rohit Shetty’s film ‘Chennai Express‘ starring Shah Rukh Khan and Deepika Padukone is considered to be the highest-grossing Bollywood film of 2013. It also became the fastest film to reach Rs 100 crore in India. And Deepika’s performance was widely appreciated by the audience and critics alike.
However, the filmmaker’s 2018 film Simmba, starring Ranveer Singh and Sara Ali Khan landed in controversy owing to the actresses’ minimal role in it. Some even cited that Sara’s role was in contrast to what Ranveer was in the film had preached ‘women empowerment’.
Back in 2019 during a conversation with Film Companion, Rohit Shetty was asked about whether he would ever have a strong woman character in his film. He said, “For me, ‘Chennai Express’ was not a Shah Rukh film. People forget that. For me, ‘Golmaal 3’ was not an Ajay Devgn film. It was a Kareena Kapoor, Ratna Pathak and Mithun Chakraborty film. That’s how you write. Because it’s a commercial film, people don’t go for that theory.”
The filmmaker further said, “Same way, Chennai Express was Deepika Padukone’s film. And she got the maximum credit also. So it’s not like my heroines are only there for song and dance, it’s never like that. Till today, except for my first film ‘Zameen’, I never had an item song in my films.”
Apart from Chennai Express and Simmba, Rohit Shetty has directed several blockbuster films in his 16-year long career. He is well known for helming films like Golmaal: Fun Unlimited, Golmaal Returns (2008), All The Best: Fun Begins (2009), Singham (2011) and Bol Bachchan (2012).
His upcoming film Sooryavanshi, starring Akshay Kumar and Katrina Kaif in the lead, was supposed to be released on April 30, 2021. However, the release of the film once again delayed due to the lockdown imposed by the Maharashtra government owing to the second wave of coronavirus pandemic.
