Siddharth Anand on War: The fact that we got two action superstars, we had to set a benchmark

Siddharth Anand’s directorial War starring Hrithik Roshan and Tiger Shroff completes one year of its release today. It was the highest-grossing film of 2019.

Today, while talking about the movie, Siddharth said, “When we started out, the script of War was being written, I was writing it like an English film. It didn't have songs, its language was very new. When I say language, I don’t mean spoken language; it is the language of the film, the way scenes unfold. The content of each scene, the way the screenplay unfolds, it was a little complex in terms of the timeline and the way things were moving, it was like a relentless thriller. I didn't know what the palette of the audience would be in 2 years to the time the film releases, to keep up with the current trends, the evolving taste of the audience."

“When the film came out, it was extremely relevant and contemporary thankfully, that was the endeavour. When the film was cast, it had Hrithik and Tiger - the casting was just through the roof! It was a dream cast and we weren’t expecting two superstars coming together! Nowadays to get one actor on a film is so tough, and to get two superstars was like a dream. So, naturally, the expectations of the film went high,” he added.

Siddharth started his career with rom-coms like Salaam Namaste, Ta Ra Rum Pum, Bachna Ae Haseeno, and Anjaana Anjaani. He later moved to action films with Bang Bang.

Further talking about his movies, the filmmaker said, “The fact that we got two action superstars, we had to set a benchmark. When I started making action films, I started in 2012, I just knew that there is no benchmark or template for me in India. Because I don’t think we make many action films or good action films in India. I wanted to beat my own expectations of what I’ve achieved in the previous action films. My competition was the action in Bang Bang! There was very new, very radical stuff that we did in Bang Bang! and I was competing with that and wanted to give audiences a little more than that, and I ended up giving them a whole lot more with War.”

Well, there have been reports that Siddharth Anand’s next will be Pathan starring Shah Rukh Khan and John Abraham. However, YRF is yet to officially announce the movie.