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I will take the blame if Veer flops: Salman

NEW DELHI – It is a film that has been in the making for more than two decades and cost a whopping Rs 100 crores

NEW DELHI – It is a film that has been in the making for more than two decades and cost a whopping Rs 100 crores, but actor Salman Khan is unfazed while announcing that he is ready to take the blame if 'Veer' fails. The period drama is the brainchild of the Bollywood heartthrob, who also turned scriptwriter for his dream project. "I have been told plenty of times that period dramas are not a safe genre and there are many flops to prove the point. I have left it for the audiences to decide if 'Veer' works or not. If it does, the credit will be everybody's and if it doesn't, then I will take the blame," said Khan during a press conference in the city to promote the film which releases on January 22. The 44-year-old actor plays a Pindari soldier leading a revolt against the British in the film set in 1857 and the project in the actor's own words has been a "long and hard journey."
Filmmaker Anil Sharma is exasperated. Even though his Veer has opened well at the box office, there are questions being raised around its expected eventual box office outcome, courtesy it's heavy budget. Though the film is undeniably set on a huge scale and has an extravagant look and feel to it, Veer - as per Anil Sharma - isn't really carrying a mega expensive multi-crore budget tag as is being perceived. "It is certainly not in Rupees 100 crores range as is being said out there", fumes Anil Sharma who last saw such comments working inversely for his Sunny Deol starrer The Hero, "It's completely untrue. People just come up with certain imaginative figures but the real fact is something that the makers know best. Rest assured, Veer isn't as costly as some people want to believe."
His comments come with a fair reason. When released, The Hero was touted as a Rs. 50 crores film. Since it was his next release after Gadar - Ek Prem Katha, there was nothing less expected from The Hero. The film did quite well at the box office but since it couldn't match up to the kind of response that Gadar - Ek Prem Katha had, it was labelled as an under performer.
"This entire Rs.50 crore talk was a publicity stunt which backfired on us", says Sharma, "Considering half the film was shot in Manali, how could the production costs have been so massive? The budget was quite minimal actually and the film was completed in Rs. 22-23 crores.”
Sharma was of the view that the exaggerated figures of Veer’s cost is being played up by the media. “I don’t know why the press is doing so?”

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