Aanand L Rai on failure of Akshay Kumar’s Raksha Bandhan: ‘I totally faltered there’

Aanand L Rai took full responsibility, describing Akshay Kumar's Raksha Bandhan as a miscalculation shaped by misplaced expectations.

Filmmaker Aanand L Rai is looking back at the failure of Akshay Kumar–starrer Raksha Bandhan, acknowledging that he misjudged his audience. He shared that the film didn’t land the way he was looking at it.

Aanand L Rai on Raksha Bandhan

Akshay Kumar's Raksha Bandhan released in August in 2022.

During an interview with Galatta Plus, Aanand L Rai spoke about his film Raksha Bandhan, which featured Akshay Kumar in the lead role.

“I totally faltered there. This is for the first time in my entire journey of filmmaking I decided that this is the kind of story needed by a certain section of the audience where we’re not telling them great stories. I never decide. I make films. I like a story, I make a film. Raksha Bandhan was the only film where I actually judged my audience," he said.

He explained that the decision to take the film on floors was flawed from the start, stressing that it had nothing to do with box office results. According to him, he has failed even with projects he felt confident about, but in this case, the problem lay in having the wrong motivation before beginning.

Raksha Bandhan released in August in 2022. The film stars Akshay Kumar, Bhumi Pednekar, Sadia Khateeb, Sahejmeen Kaur, Deepika Khanna and Smrithi Srikanth. Raksha Bandhan is a story about Lala Kedarnath (Akshay) and his relationship with his four sisters. It focuses on his efforts to get his sisters married and tackles issues such as dowry and body shaming. Actor Bhumi Pednekar is paired opposite Kumar in the film. The film failed to elicit expected response at the box office.