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28 March 2024

6-months wait for Salman Khan? '7 Hours to Go' director says he prefers newcomers

'7 Hours to Go’ stars Shiv Pandit and Sandeepa Dhar in the lead. (Supplied)

Published
By Bindu Rai

Writer-director Saurabh Varma, whose film ‘7 Hours To Go’ playing across UAE cinemas this week, is a confident man, despite the fact that his thriller is getting a release sandwiched between two Bollywood juggernauts – ‘Udta Punjab’ and ‘Sultan’.

Last week’s ‘Udta Punjab’ has already commanded respect from critics, coupled with an ever-increasing box office collection, while ‘Sultan’ comes attached with the name of a certain Salman Khan.

Quiz Varma on whether he is feeling the heat and the director does not mince word.

“With the Khans there is no comparison, so I am not even going to try,” said Varma, in a chat with Emirates 24|7. “People see the poster with a Khan’s face, be it Salman, Shah Rukh or Aamir, and they will come irrespective to catch it in the cinemas.”

However, “this is not a yardstick for box office success,” comes his reply.

The director, who also helmed ‘Mickey Virus’, said his lead stars in ‘7 Hours to Go’, namely Shiv Pandit and Sandeepa Dhar were ‘hungry’.

He explained: “When I am not getting a Khan, I am going to find someone who believes in my film, and who works as much as I do. So, today, if I look at the bunch of us working on my film, I call ourselves a bunch of hungry underdogs.

“And if this film works, it will on merit alone.”

Based on real-life hostage drama

The thriller sees Pandit play a former cop who is wrongly framed for murder. In a desperate move, he takes seven passersby as hostages and threatens to kill them an hour at a time if the police doesn’t uncover the real killer in seven hours.

ACP Nandini Shukla (Sandeepa Dhar) and Ramesh Dhadke (Varun Badola) rise up to the task.

Varma, who has written the film, is quick to point out the film is an original, “and not a spin off from some Korean or Japanese drama.

“I had one-tenth of the budget of your regular Bollywood blockbuster and 43 days to get this film ready. And what the audience will see, I can guarantee, will blow them away.”

The thriller genre is not one for a novice filmmaker, some critics may say, but Varma is clear his inspiration comes from Bollywood classics such as ‘Return of Jewel Thief’, and films such as ‘Johnny Gaddar’ and ‘Kahaani’ from the recent crop of films.

He reveals: “The idea of a hostage thriller stemmed from real-life hostage stories. Sonam Kapoor’s ‘Neerja’ had not released as yet. And I knew this was a genre I wanted to explore further, while staying firmly in the entertainer arena without making it to dark and grim.”

Fighting for audience attention

Varma’s film will be fighting for screen space with the likes of ‘Udta Punjab’ and later ‘Sultan’, which is scheduled as the Bollywood Eid release.

As the director and he admits “there is fear of being overshadowed by bigger elephants. But no one can stop a good film from running.

“In my mind, if 10 people go and watch the film and seven will like it, my job is done. Plus, word of mouth carries in a day. That’s a risk I have to take.”

The filmmaker continues: “Ultimately, things work and sometimes they don’t. So my job is to make something good if I don’t have a big star on my poster, at a budget I can and keep things balanced at the box office.”

By this argument, banking on a superstar such as Salman Khan would surely guarantee the box office collection?

He replied: “It’s not that I don’t want to work with a Salman Khan. But I also don’t want to stand in a queue for six months to get him to believe in me and sign on. I would much rather work with newcomers then.

“And I am from the school of thought, that ultimately, sincerity is all it takes to translate something into good content.”