Nikkhil Advani opens up on Freedom at Midnight reception, Kal Ho Naa Ho re-release, Vedaa box office setback

Nikkhil says the response to Freedom At Midnight has been gratifying. About KHNH, he says he's pleasantly surprised that it still remains in people's hearts.

Nikkhil Advani’s year has been an interesting blend of the past and the present. Currently, the director is basking in the reception that his latest project, show Freedom at Midnight has been receiving.

Nikkhil Advani's debut directorial was Kal Ho Naa Ho.

“The response to Freedom... has been gratifying. Friends, colleagues and people who otherwise watched it reached out to me. They send me messages like, ‘My grandfather was there at the partition, or my father kept talking about it’,” he shares.

Coupled with this is the fact that his debut directorial Kal Ho Naa Ho (2003), has been re-released in theatres 21 years later. And Advani is “pleasantly surprised”: “What can I say? It’s just incredible. People have been sending me videos of viewers dancing and singing in the theatres. Full credit to (filmmaker) Karan Johar for actually doing such a wonderful re-release. Every time I go anywhere, people recognise me as someone who made that film.”

The 53-year-old continues, “I was just one of the contributors to the film. Karan, [actors] Shah Rukh (Khan), Preity Zinta, Saif Ali Khan and (composers) Shankar Ehsaan Loy... so many people worked on that film. I am glad it still remains in people’s hearts.”

Advani also had another release this year, the hard-hitting thriller Vedaa, starring Sharvari and John Abraham. It didn’t notch up the numbers, and the filmmaker admits: “It was not what I wanted or expected. But Sharvari got incredible love for Munjya and Vedaa, while John was finally taken seriously as an actor... [so] I feel very happy.”

Interestingly, Advani has also been in the news for his alleged sour equation with director Milap Zaveri, who helmed Satyamev Jayate 2. It was reported that Zaveri claimed Advani had “washed his hands off him”. Probe the latter on this and he replies, “I haven’t read those statements, but Milap did call me and clarified that he had been misquoted.”