Khel Khel Mein director Mudassar Aziz on film's journey, says finding success beyond first weekend is important

Featuring Akshay Kumar, Fardeen Khan, Vaani Kapoor, Taapsee Pannu, Ammy Virk, Aditya Seal and Pragya Jaiswal in the leading roles, the comedy drama Khel Khel Mein released on August 15 coinciding with the Independence Day and clashed at the box office with Stree 2 and Vedaa. Though the film had a dull opening weekend, its box office numbers have considerably grown in the past two weeks. 

Khel Khel Mein director Mudassar Aziz has said his film has shown that there is potential for films to gain momentum over time rather than relying solely on their opening weekends. Talking to Hindustan Times about his film's box office performance, the filmmaker stated, "Films like Kantara and Pushpa: The Rise, when they started out, actually did box office numbers across a stretch of a number of days. OTT viewers are willing to give legs to a film without being swayed by box office numbers. When I see theatrical business, I see that there has been a change."

He admitted that Akshay Kumar-starrer's initial performance was a bit of a concern but now, he finds solace in the fact that Khel Khel Mein has seen a 100% growth in its numbers lately. Mudassar shared, "It would be wrong to say it doesn't shake you in the beginning. Slowly what seeps in is the fact that your acid test is coming from the reactions. Numbers can be governed by several factors. In some cases you will realise in the past that some films have landed up getting a great weekend, maybe only because of one song and then the film has found no legs. Or in another case, you may find that a film has got a great opening weekend because of a controversy. So I think in this ever changing dynamic of how films at the box office are faring, if the mettle of the film gets accepted, you find your way around that."

Though the director shared that some viewers are now discussing Khel Khel Mein for its content rather than box office performance, but still there are many who are still concerned about the film's business. "The unfortunate part is that even though a section of the audience and the trade is finally talking about the content of KKM and not the collections, it all boils down to people saying what's the box office business", Aziz concluded.

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