On Koffee With Karan 7, Shahid Kapoor said that he wished he had protected 'Jersey' and should have released it directly on the OTT platform.
The latest episode of Koffee With Karan 7 featured Shahid Kapoor and Kiara Advani, the lead pair of the 2019 blockbuster Kabir Singh, which was a remake of the 2017 Telugu film Arjun Reddy featuring Vijay Deverakonda and Shalini Pandey. Both films were directed by Sameer Reddy Vanga.
Shahid also featured in Jersey, another remake earlier this year. The emotional sports drama was remade from the 2019 Telugu film of the same name headlined by Nani. Though the final result was different this time, as Jersey tanked at the box office whereas Kabir Singh had collected more than Rs 300 crore at the ticket windows.
As original Jersey had won the National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Telugu, the host Karan Johar asked Shahid, "Recently, your film didn't perform to expectation. On a performance that was very largely loved and everyone said you were outstanding and actually coming from a performance that was National Award-winning, was it tough for you to deal with how the film went at the box office, or did you just accept it for what it was and moved on because the climate is such?"
Shahid opened up about the film's box office failure and said, "Actually in December, when we were supposed to release it on the 31st and we couldn't release, because COVID came in and Delhi got shut down. It literally happened 3 days before. All our marketing material was out and everything had been released and very clearly in my head in December, I asked myself, "Am I thinking from my head or from my heart?"
He continued, "Because it was a film that was very close to our hearts and I was very emotionally involved in the character and the father-son dynamic had affected me personally as well. And my director and producer, Aman and Gautam, both of them were very keen that the film goes to the big screen."
READ | Mrunal Thakur opens up on comparisons between Jersey actors Shahid Kapoor, Nani | Exclusive
The Jab We Met actor even said that he wished that he had 'protected' the film since he added, "When in December it didn't happen, I was really thinking that should we just straight go to digital now. Kyunki film ko garam karna baar baar bada mushkil hota hai, specailly jab aapka saara material out hai (Because its really difficult to repeatedly keep creating the hype around the film, especially when all your material is out)".
"And then, unfortunately, we released in April, which was not a great month for us because there was a certain mood and a certain type of cinema which the audience was watching and we had shifted our date multiple times by the time we released, but you are still optimistic and hopeful thinking that things will get sorted but it didn't work out like that and I feel maybe we didn't do the right thing on the film may be the film needed to be protected, because it has got so much love since it released on digital", the actor concluded.
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 "Shahid Kapoor in Jersey/File photo")
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