John Abraham reacts to Vedaa’s under-performance at the box office

John Abraham, who is reeling from the under-performance of yet another film with him in the starring role, said that he’s very proud of ‘Vedaa’. Directed by Nikkhil Advani, the action-drama didn’t quite live up to expectations at the box office and found itself in a three-way clash on the Independence Day weekend. Advani joked that the only thing he’d change was to make ‘Stree 2’ - the runaway hit of the year - a ‘bad film’.

In an interview with ‘Radio City’, it was mentioned that the movie hasn’t exactly done well and John said that he stands by it anyway. He said, “It’s a brave film to do. I wanted to work with Nikkhil again after ‘Batla House’. Honestly, more than success and failure, it’s the message that you’re sharing via your film that’s more important. We’ve told it in an entertaining way, but there’s no getting around the fact that the subject is heavy. If people aren’t interested in watching films with heavy subjects, that’s their choice. I respect it. But you have to face the subject at the end of the day.”

“I’m very proud that we made a very good film. This is possibly Nikkhil and my best work together. Often, there’s regret when your film doesn’t work commercially. You feel bad. Usually, it stems from uncertainty about the film itself. But with Vedaa, we’ve got practically everything right. Our cast has performed brilliantly and every department, from cinematography to action, has done well. People will find things to complain about with the screenplay and that’s fine. We respect everybody’s point of view. But I’m proud we’ve made a good film.”

John proceeded to list several incidents of rape that became national news and said that they took aspects from every case for the story of ‘Vedaa’. He also said that regardless of everything else, his priority was and remains ‘doing commercially successful films’. ‘Vedaa’, however, is the latest in a streak of box office flops for the actor, save for ‘Pathaan’, in which he played the antagonist. Films such as ‘Attack: Part 1’, ‘Mumbai Saga’ and ‘Ek Villain Returns’ all bombed at the box office. ‘Vedaa’ has made around Rs 20 crore so far.