The unfazed Farah Khan

Filmmaker says critics are biased towards films that are arty, slow and boring.

MUMBAI: After helming films such as Shahrukh Khan-starrers Main Hoon Na (2004) and Om Shanti Om (2007), filmmaker-choreographer Farah Khan is now working on her upcoming commercial venture Happy New Year. So far, three years old as a director, she has often been panned by critics for the lack of substance in her films.

But the unfazed Farah feels such comments are driven by film critics’ bias towards “arty, slow and a bit boring” movies. “It would be great if both the critics and audience like the movie, but there is a bias against commercial cinema,” she said. “I know the critics are only doing their job, but there is a breed of critics that only likes slow and boring movies,” the 49-year-old said on the sets of reality show Entertainment Ke Liye Kuch Bhi Karega.



She feels such critics should stop reviewing commercial films. “I think they should not review commercial films and someone who understands and enjoys commercial films should do it,” she commented. Pointing out her brother Sajid Khan’s film Humshakals as an example, Farah said, “Humshakals got terrible reviews, but it did pretty well at the box office, so I rest my case. So did Ek Villain, I believe. I heard the reviews were not great, but look at the box office [revenue].”

However, Farah gave brownie points to the audience for not being influenced by the critics’ negative reviews. “I am noticing that critics today like a particular type of films, which is arty, slow and a bit boring. They do not like commercial films at all. So, if we follow only those four people, then the film industry will shut down,” she said.



“Audiences watch a film using their own sensibility and if they like it, they go [to watch such films] again. They don’t go only by the critics’ [opinion],” she added. Happy New Year stars Shahrukh Khan, Abhishek Bachchan, Deepika Padukone, Sonu Sood and Boman Irani. It is being readied for a Diwali release this year. 

Published in The Express Tribune, July 4^th, 2014.

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