‘Can’t just blame the celeb’

The cast of upcoming film ABCD2 was in the city on Thursday on a promotion tour. While Varun Dhawan and Shraddha Kapoor spoke about the recent Maggi row, Remo D’Souza told us why the Rs 100 crore club was ruining creativity in the industry, whether Allu Arjun was doing a cameo in the movie and more…

‘Hyderabad is a film-friendly city’

Talking about how his Hyderabadi friends have always supported him, Varun says, “Main Tera Hero did well in Hyderabad and so did Badlapur. This is a film-friendly city. I have also got a lot of messages from Tollywood actors who are looking forward to my next movie.

I wouldn’t want to name them, but I can say that Sania Mirza is looking forward to it. But may be that’s because it is for the dance and 3D and that it has Prabhu Deva in it.”

Talking about the recent Maggi row, Varun agrees that while a celebrity is responsible to an extent, filing a court case is uncalled for. “Most celebrities have agencies who handle it and that’s where they get the information from. Talking about Maggi, it is little unfair to blame Madhuri Dixit. She is not a doctor or a scientist. A celebrity is also a normal human being.”

“What a celebrity can do when they learn that a product is unhealthy...  they can stop supporting it. At the end of the day, you still vouch for brand value. You can’t expect a celebrity to be smarter than common people. I don’t think that a celebrity should be fully responsible for it and filing cases on them is not done,” says Varun.

‘I only endorse products I use’

Shraddha Kapoor adds that she only endorses products that are her personal favourites. “Before I take up an endorsement, I firstly ask myself if I believe in the product. I do the research and get as much information as I can. My agency would get the brand and I can check with them if I have any concerns. I had always used non-sticky oil and I ended up endorsing that, it’s the same with another beauty product that I endorse. Everything I endorse is something that I have used and is my personal favourite.”
 
‘Rs100 crore club is manipulated’

Clarifying rumours doing the rounds that Allu Arjun has a cameo in the movie, Remo says, “Allu Arjun and I are neighbours in Mumbai. I would conduct the rehearsals next to my building, so he used to drop in... He said he loved dancing and he wanted to see us dance… Maybe that’s how the rumour started. But he is an amazing dancer and a good friend and I would love to work with him in future,” he says, adding, “I visit the city quite often…Vishnu Manchu is a dear friend in Tollywood. I would love to direct a Telugu movie. Vishnu and I have planned a movie but let’s see if it works out.”

Talking about the overrated 100-crore club, Remo says the numbers are all manipulated, “Rs100 crore club is the only thing that scares me... it also hurts me as a creative person. People no longer ask about the film or the story, they ask how much money it made on the first, second and third day, how many hits you garnered on YouTube. These clubs bring in a lot more pressure and this should stop. A movie releases and in the next three days you see a poster announcing that it made Rs 100 crore. And it is all manipulated. Not all but most of them are… We know it because we are in the film industry. We see that the movie has earned Rs 100 crore, but you find nobody in the theatre… So it’s all manipulated.”