Kabir Khan’s directorial Chandu Champion, which featured Kartik Aaryan in the lead role, failed to elicit expected response at the box office. But the filmmaker is not bogged down by it, and says he is more concerned about the love he gets from the audience and the legacy it created.  

Kabir spoke about the film’s underperformance at the box office in an interview with Mid-day after attending the Indian Film Festival of Melbourne (IFFM) to represent the film.

Kabir not affected by the debacle

In the interview, the director stressed that box-office figures matter to him, but not as much as the audience’s love.

“Any filmmaker who says that box office doesn’t matter is not speaking the truth; it does. But it’s not the only parameter to judge a film. The most important for me is how much the film is remembered and spoken about, after some time passes. With Chandu Champion now and 83 (2021) earlier, there have been repeat viewings on OTT,” Kabir said.

He added, “People kept going back to the film. That shows a film’s legacy and how long it stays in people’s memory. In terms of box office numbers, my first film, Kabul Express [2006] was the lowest out of all my films. But after 18 years, people come up to me and say they loved it. So, there are lots of different parameters today through which you judge how deeply has a film connected.”

The film was released on June 14. Chandu Champion collected ₹5.40 crore on its Day 1 (Friday), and witnessed a 45% growth on its Day 2 raking in ₹7.70 crore.

At the recent film festival, Kartik Aaryan and Kabir took home the Best Actor and Best Director trophies.

In the same interview, Kabir revealed that the award holds special importance as it comes from “an international jury, composed of celebrated filmmakers and critics who are judging only on the basis of the film”. Kabir shared that it gives a sense of validation.

About the film

Chandu Champion is a biopic of Murlikant Petkar, India's first Paralympic gold medalist, born on November 1, 1944, in Maharashtra. The film traces different phases and obstacles of his life. Petkar excelled in multiple sports, especially wrestling and hockey. Chandu Champion also marks Kartik’s first collaboration with Kabir. The film is jointly Produced by Sajid Nadiadwala and Kabir Khan.

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