Vikrant Massey says Anupama Chopra called him an ‘OTT actor’ ahead of 12th Fail, asked Vidhu Vinod Chopra ‘Why will people watch him in a film?’

Vikrant Massey says Anupama Chopra called him an ‘OTT actor’ ahead of 12th Fail, asked Vidhu Vinod Chopra ‘Why will people watch him in a film?’

Vikrant Massey, who was recently in Shanghai for his film 12th Fail, has said that director Vidhu Vinod Chopra's wife, film critic Anupama Chopra, was of the opinion that Vikrant is an "OTT actor" and people might not watch him in a theatre. 12th Fail was one of the most profitable films of 2023 as it was made on a modest budget, which was reported to be around Rs 20 crore, but ended up making Rs 70 crore worldwide before its China release.

Speaking at a Times of India event in Varanasi, Vikrant said, "Vidhu Vinod Chopra's wife Anupama Chopra, who is a celebrated film critic, told him that you are making a film after so long. No one came to watch your previous film Shikara. He is an OTT actor. Why will people come and watch him in a theatre?"

At the 100 days event of the film, Chopra said, "When I was making the film, I was told by everyone, including my dearest wife (film critic Anupama Chopra), to put it out on OTT. She said, ‘Nobody will go to see Vinod! Teri aur Vikrant ki film!’ She told me I don’t know, that I’m not connected with movies (anymore)." Anupama endorsed his words and said, "He’s right, I did say I don’t know who will come to the theatre to see this film. So I’m saying in public that I was wrong and you are right."

Vikrant, at the same event, said that they often had a "self realisation" as to what journey they were on but had the confidence that there film would find a way as they knew they had made a "good film." Vikrant said that during the preliminary screenings, when they showed the film to other folks in the film industry, they would walk out teary eyed. This further gave them the confidence that they had a good film on their hands.

Vikrant credited director Vidhu Vinod Chopra as "he did not want to manipulate the audience. "He did not want to go out there and buy a medianet. That you get 50 posts done on Instagram or buy stars for the film, we didn't want to do all of this. Because we were certain that this is a film about honesty. We have the story of an honest officer who could inspire others so we can't contradict our own belief," he said and added that they did not promote the film a lot before the release and acknowledged that the film worked because of word of mouth.

12th Fail was recently screened at Shanghai Film Festival. Previously, Vikrant told India Today that the film would release in 20,000 screens in China.

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