'Was Depressed After 'Cheeni Kum' Was Slammed By An Influential Critic': R Balki

R Balki's 'Chup: The Revenge of the Artist' features Sunny Deol, Pooja Bhatt, and Dulquer Salmaan in lead roles.

R Balki speaks about the making of his film. 

(Photo Courtesy: Instagram) 

Filmmaker R Balki's Chup: The Revenge of the Artist, Starring Sunny Deol, Dulquer Salmaan, Pooja Bhatt, and Shreya Dhawanthary recently hit the big screens on 23 September. The Quint spoke to the film's director and Dulquer about the making of the film, what prompted them to come up with such an idea, film critics and their reviews, their tribute to Guru Dutt and more.

Talking about what prompted him to come up with the idea of Chup: The Revenge of the Artist, R Balki shared, "It started way back when I did Cheeni Kum. I thought I had made a pretty decent film and a lot of poeple did like it, in the first show that we had. But one Saturday, I discovered that one of the most influential reviewers in those days, had slammed it to pieces."

"I didn't understand this industry and how it worked for the critics and how they do things. So, I was depressed by it. Though the film worked and it was liked by poeple, I never got over that review and it stayed in my mind. From that time, everytime I have been wanting to write something, it just stayed there and I let it brew for a long time. And it suddenly happened one day, and I called him (Dulquer)."

R Balki, added.

Dulquer opened up about choosing a thriller, a genre that he has never worked in before and shared, "I've always liked the genre, like thrillers and investigative films. I keep trying to change it up all the time. My first two films — one is a slice-of-life, the other one a rom-com. So it was bit of a no-brainer for me cause I get to break this mode, especially with the Hindi speaking audience."

Watch the video for more.

Video Editor: Arnab Chakraborty