"Dangal" director Nitesh Tiwari says it's the honesty and sincerity that went behind the making of "Dangal", which was backed by an immensely talented cast, that worked in making the movie the highest grosser of Hindi cinema.
The film is nearing the Rs 400 crore mark at the Indian box office.
It was expected that Tiwari would change overnight after the grand success of "Dangal". He didn't. As "Dangal" goes from success to success, the man who helmed the epic remains monkish in his detachment.
Producers are lining up to sign Tiwari. There is tremendous pressure to do a sequel to "Dangal", and if not direct a sequel, then at least another sports film.
Always one to be unapologetic about the cinema that he believes in, Tiwari attributes the success of "Dangal" to several factors, the least of them being his own storytelling skills.
"I think the honesty and sincerity with which 'Dangal' has been made has worked in its favour. We gave it all the time it deserved, all the effort it deserved, all the scale it deserved," Tiwari said.
Tiwari hits the nail on the head when he speaks of the participative mood that "Dangal" creates, so that the audience feels one with the struggles of a father's ambitions to make his daughters world champions.
"We wrote it and shot it with the intention of giving our audience an engaging story in which they could participate as well. The characters and their emotions were kept extremely real and relatable. And the added layer of humour made the film even more enjoyable.
"The icing on the cake is that people are not just loving the movie but they are also able to see and appreciate the effort that has gone into making it. That's what has made 'Dangal' connect with people in such a big way," Tiwari said.
Now that "Dangal" has been declared the biggest success of Hindi cinema, Tiwari isn't putting any pressure on himself to deliver something bigger.
"It's very natural that the success of 'Dangal' would put pressure on me. But I have to be practical about it. 'Dangal' had a beautiful script, a legend like Aamir Khan and a bunch of hugely talented and committed artistes and technicians. One can never be certain but one can only hope for the same to happen again," he said.
So would it be a "Dangal" follow-up next?
Tiwari said: "I usually don't put any conditions on the kind of films I would like to make. In fact, I would like to make all kinds of films, provided I get stories that are exciting in those genres."
