Bollywood director apologizes for not defending his film Shamshera against scathing criticism

    1 of 1 2 of 1

      Something very unusual just occurred in Bollywood.

      Director Karan Malhotra issued a public apology to his recently released film, Shamshera, which stars A-lister Ranbir Kapoor as the hero and Sanjay Dutt as the villain.

      It came after the historical action film—sort on an Indian version of a mix between Conan the Barbarian and Exodus—bombed at the box office.

      Even though Kapoor is one of Bollywood's biggest stars, Shamshera endured withering criticism from film writers.

      "My Dearest Shamshera, you are majestic the way you are," Malhotra posted on Instagram. "It is important for me to express myself on this platform because here is where all the love, the hate, the celebration and the humiliation exists for you. I want to unimaginably apologise to you for abandoning you for these past few days as I could not handle the hate and rage."

      Shamshera has many ridiculous plot turns, including one scene in which Kapoor's character, Bali, jumps off a mountain and lands safely within a small pool of water before swimming out to freedom via an underground tunnel.

      In another preposterous scene, Bali fights a British military leader in a Conan-style brawl in front of a huge crowd of onlookers.

      "This Ranbir Kapoor film is big, bad, loud and messy," declared the headline on Indian Express writer Shalina Langer's review.

      But that's not how the director sees it.

      "My withdrawal was my weakness and there are no excuses for it," Malhotra stated. "But now I am here, standing beside you hand in hand feeling proud and honoured that you are mine. Will face every thing together, the good the bad and the ugly. And a huge shout out to the Shamshera family, the cast and crew of Shamshera. The love, the blessings and the concern that has been showered upon us are the most precious and nobody can take that away from us. #Shamshera is mine #Shamshera."

      https://www.instagram.com/p/CggpA1-p0iV/?utm_source=ig_embed&ig_rid=06cddf60-7c1e-4abf-a63c-496e3fe13b8d

      Comments