R Balki reveals how a negative review of Cheeni Kum left him in a ‘deep depression’

The Chup director had made his directorial debut with Cheeni Kum, which starred Amitabh Bachchan, Tabu, Paresh Rawal and Zohra Sehgal.

R Balki’s next directorial has an intriguing premise to say the least. Titled Chup: Revenge of The Artist, the film follows the tale of a serial killer who targets critics who give bad reviews to films. Although the film is a fictional tale, Balki seems to have had his own experiences of being affected by some of the bad ratings his films received. The director recently opened up about how a bad review for his directorial debut, Cheeni Kum, had left him quite dejected.

In conversation with Variety, Balki spoke of how the very first review he read of Cheeni Kum was one which saw a prominent film critic ‘trash’ the film. Even though the film had been well received from most quarters, this singular negative review he had read had sent him into a ‘deep depression’. Although his friends offered him words of comfort, saying that one person’s opinion did not matter, Balki found it hard to get over.

“It mattered to me and somewhere that thought hit me that how is it that you [the critic] can say whatever you want, and get away and I’m accountable to you, but you’re not accountable to me”, he said.

But the ‘unfairness’ between the filmmaker-film critic dynamic had started to intrigue Balki, once he got over his initial dejection. Interestingly, Balki had worked with prominent film critic Raja Sen in Chup. Sen co-wrote the film’s script with Balki and Rishi Virmani.

Sharing his experience of working with a film critic, Balki revealed that it was a ‘beautiful’ experience to sit and collaborate with someone who had trashed so many of his films. Balki enjoyed the collaboration, although Sen was someone he had ‘really wanted to kill’ at one point, and the duo had formed a fascinating friendship.

Chup: Revenge of the Artist will hit silver screens on September 23.

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