March 16, 2010 (Sampurn Wire): His last major love story, ‘Jab We Met’, was a huge success and while his ‘Kismat Konnection’ did well as well, it was his coming-of-age film ‘Kaminey’ that brought him to the top bracket. However, his semi auto biographical ‘Chance Pe Dance’ didn’t quite entice the audience even though his act was unanimously appreciated by the audience. While he would next be seen in ‘Paathshala’, one can’t help but ask him this question - ‘How badly disappointed was he when the film couldn’t even manage a decent opening, let alone being rejected due to poor of word of mouth?’

“See, I have had 16-17 release in last 7 years out of which 5-6 have done very well, 3-4 have done just about ok whereas 5-6 have been rejected”, Shahid goes on to reveal some statistics here, “So if you look at it, I have been enjoying a fairly balanced innings so far. The entire team of ‘Chance Pe Dance’ gave 100% to it and now that the film hasn’t worked, it is very important to recognise that acceptance hasn’t come in.”

While this does sound nice and diplomatic, one truly believes that he would have indeed seen this coming as far as the movie in question is concerned. After all for an actor who has been in the industry for long enough, gaps as seen in the film’s script were glaring enough to go unnoticed.

“Sometimes you have great faith in something instinctively and this exactly was the case in ‘Chance Pe Dance’ as well. Later when you become a part of a product, you have to give it your all till the day it releases. I committed myself fully to it and this is why you would have seen me promoting ‘Chance Pe Dance’ in a big way. My job is to take a film to the audience and once the box office counter opens, it is audience that does the talking”, Shahid gives an extended detailing here while maintaining a diplomatic stand.

Meanwhile, he is quite pleased that ‘Paathshaala’ is all set for 16th April release. Other than Ayesha Takia, who was last seen in ‘Wanted’, ‘Paathshala’ also stars Nana Patekar along with child artists Swini Khara, Ali Haji and Dwij Yadav.

-Rudhir Burman/ Sampurn Wire