Saif Ali Khan says no one expected Tanhaji to do so well, calls it ‘highly patriotic film’ that ticks all the boxes

Actor Saif Ali Khan, calling Tanhaji a ‘highly patriotic film’ that ‘ticks all the boxes’, has said that no one expected it to do as well as it did at the box office.

Actor Saif Ali Khan has said that while he knew that Tanhaji: The Unsung Warrior would do well at the box office, no one expected it to do the sort of business that it ended up doing. After a string of theatrical flops, Tanhaji was Saif’s first big hit, with earnings of more than Rs 275 crore in India. He played the villainous Udaybhan Rathod in the period drama, opposite Ajay Devgn’s virtuous hero.

Saif Ali Khan in a still from Tanhaji.

“There are certain aspects to the film,” he said in an India Today e-conclave session. “It’s highly patriotic film and ticks all the boxes when it comes to being larger than life. It’s probably on paper, if there’s any film of mine that was expected to do this good, this was it. But no one thought Tanhaji could do this box office performance.”

Previously, Saif had courted controversy when he made certain disparaging remarks about the film’s historical inaccuracy. “For some reason I didn’t take a stand… maybe next time I would,” Saif said in an interview to journalist Anupama Chopra, adding, “I was very excited to play the role because it’s a delicious role. But when people say this is history; I don’t think this is history. I am quite aware of what the history was.”

He had added, “I would really like to a part of a film industry that would take a stand that wouldn’t make mass kind of films like that. Films that would rather say ‘hey this is what history is’ rather than mould it to certain kind of belief. But people say that is what runs and that’s what’s given it the extra kind of bump, I mean it’s more than just action movie. There’s an idea there that seems to have caught on, but certainly a dangerous idea.”

Saif’s comments were rumoured to have upset Ajay, who was also a producer on the film. Asked about it at an event, Ajay laughed the rumours off and said sarcastically, “Bohot naaraaz tha. Uske ghar gaya, usko maine bohot maara. Taangein tod di uski, aaj kal chal bhi nahi paa raha hai (I was very upset. I went to his house and beat him up. I broke his legs and he is not even able to walk nowadays).”

Tanhaji remains the highest grossing Bollywood film of 2020, having made over Rs 350 crore at the worldwide box office.

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