The actor says he couldn’t ‘think or process anything’ about Baaghi 3’s box office collections while Coronavirus was spreading
Rishabh Suri (HINDUSTAN TIMES; April 1, 2020)

This Tiger has been flying high with the praise he gets, especially for his action skills. Always holding his own, Shroff’s films have also been money-spinners, cases in point War (2019) and his last release Baaghi 3. The latter started off well, but the current Coronavirus situation saw India taking some unprecedented measures like shutting down movie theatres, which also meant that the lifetime collections of the actor’s film were affected.

As the entire country is under a lockdown till April 14, we ask the 30-year-old how he’s making the most of his time. “I have been doing home workouts, spending time with my loved ones, and trying to use social media to help spread whatever awareness and genuine information that I can,” he says.

In a span of six years, Shroff has managed to garner quite a few successful films to his credit, and therefore, must feel the pressure of always getting it right in terms of everything to sustain the ‘bankable’ tag. However, he says, “When people look up to you for the work you do, it is important to be mindful of your actions. If your conscience is in the right place then you wouldn’t have to constantly worry about being right. At the same time, these expectations from my fans are a motivation to keep working harder.”

Coming back to his last release, though Baaghi 3 is the highest day one earner of the year so far, couldn’t earn more because of the shutdown. Ask the actor for his reaction as this entire situation unfolded, and he says considering the crisis we are going through, it got enough love, and for him the safety of his fans was a bigger priority.

“I feel blessed and grateful that the film was accepted and loved by the masses and audiences,” Shroff tells us, “Considering we were and still are going through a world crisis, our audiences came out in large numbers until the theatres shut down. That really got me overwhelmed with their love for our film, but honestly at that point, for me, the safety of our citizens was my primary thought. I couldn’t think or process anything of the film’s box office because the virus was spreading all over and the film in my head had already taken a back seat as it was important that people stayed indoors and were safe.”

However, not glossing over his hope that the film could have earned more, he adds, “I am half disappointed because our hard work couldn’t reach it’s potential. However, I am satisfied because the bigger picture is the safety of our people and the government has made amazing decisions to follow that through. Let’s see, once the situation settles, perhaps we may re- release.”