'You cannot accept Sunny Deol as a Muslim': Shabana Azmi on why Batwara 1947 flopped

Released on Aug 14, Batwara 1947 failed to earn anticipated numbers. Actress Shabana Azmi feels it has a lot to do with the casting of Sunny Deol in the lead role of Sikandar Mirza.

Released on Independence Day weekend, the movie faced a box office clash with Emraan Hashmi's Awarapan 2, which was released on the same day and performed better than Deol's film. Now, Azmi has addressed the failure of the movie and here's what she believes was the reason.

Shabana Azmi on why Batwara 1947 failed

Ironically, Azmi was part of both films. In Batwara 1947, she played Durgavati Johri and in Awarapan 2, she played Nafisa. In a conversation with Zoom, the veteran star talked about Batwara 1947's performance, saying she is surprised to see the film tanking at the box office.

In a conversation with Zoom, Shabana Azmi said, “Firstly, I am very surprised at the total box office disaster that Batwara 1947 has been because I am surrounded by people who come and tell me they have loved the film. They tell me that they loved the message. A lot of them feel that it is very important to speak about humanity in today’s environment. On the other hand, people didn’t go to the theatre and the ones who did, they walked out with confused reactions.”

Explaining her view, she said she is unable to understand this, pointing out how Amitabh Bachchan has comfortably played Muslim characters.

She explained, “The thing is that you cannot accept Sunny Deol as a Muslim. In Coolie and in many other films, Amitabh Bachchan very comfortably played Muslim characters. In Deewaar, he put 786 and that was accepted. So how do we understand this? Are they creating an environment where such decisions are being taken on purpose? I am not able to understand.”

Speaking up on the subject of Hindustan and Pakistan, the actor said that the, ''problem is that you cannot touch the subject of Hindustan and Pakistan in this setup, which is very disappointing. This is a film which is politically not incorrect in any way. You can’t find fault with it. Sunny has done a very good job. It is very surprising and also contradictory that when I meet people, why are they praising the film so much?”

What is Batwara 1947 about?

Backed by Aamir Khan Productions, the movie reunites Rajkumar Santoshi and Deol after decades, after they delivered hits like Ghatak and Ghadar. It also marks Preity Zinta's return to the big screen after a hiatus of eight years.

Based on one of the most famous plays, Jis Lahore Nai Vekhya, O Jamya E Nai, the movie revoles around Sunny Deol's character of Sikandar Mirza, a Meerut businessman forced to migrate to Lahore during Partition after being targeted by rioters. Two months later, he is allotted a large haveli in central Lahore and moves in with his wife Hamida (Preity Zinta) and daughter Tanno, only to find that Durgavati Johri (Shabana Azmi) still lives on the upper floor. She refuses to leave the house until his son arrives. How Sikandar, with his own trouble saves hi family and Johri from the people of the town makes up the rest of the plot.

As per the box office reports, the movie has earned over Rs 55 crore globally.