'Cirkus' failure was surprising, have analysed what went wrong, says Rohit Shetty

One of the most commercially successful filmmakers in the Hindi film industry, Rohit Shetty says he takes failures in stride and learns from them.

The director, known for the blockbuster franchise Golmaal and cop movies Singham, and Simmba among others, had a lacklustre outing with his last film Cirkus, based on William Shakespeare’s popular play The Comedy of Errors.

Starring Ranveer Singh, Varun Sharma, Pooja Hegde and Jacqueline Fernandez, the film opened in December 2022 to an underwhelming response from the audiences as well as the critics.

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"It was honestly surprising. But you analyse what went wrong and take responsibility. You work at it and move forward," Shetty told PTI in an interview here.  

Cirkus is not his first film to fail at the box office, and the director said he has a realistic approach that it won't be the last.

"My first film 'Zameen' had not done well, ‘Sunday’ had not done well and ‘Dilwale’ had not done well. This is the fourth time. My target is to make 25 to 30 films and out of this, three-four will again be like ‘Cirkus'," he added.

The filmmaker, set to complete 20 years in the movies, said he is grateful to the audience for accepting him.

“It has been a great and fabulous journey. When I started with my first film (‘Zameen’) or my second film ‘Golmaal’, I never thought that I would reach here and that my films would become a brand.

"I never thought I would be the first one to start a universe (cop universe) in this country. I never thought I would be hosting a TV show like "Khatron Ke Khiladi". I have put my heart, energy, and love into everything that I have done. I look forward to the coming 20 years," he added.

Shetty is currently awaiting the premiere of the 13th season of Khatron Ke Khiladi. The stunt-based reality show features celebrities facing their worst fears.

With every season, the show is getting "bigger and better", said Shetty, who is returning as a host for the eighth time.

"It is much bigger than all the previous seasons. The scale is too big. Few stunts are absolutely new so the kids will love it for sure," he said.

The upcoming season, shot in Cape Town, South Africa, features Shiv Thakare, Rohit Roy, Daisy Shah, Rashmeet Kaur, Dino James, Anjali Gautam, Arjit Taneja, Ruhi Chaturvedi, Anjum Fakih, Anjali Anand, Nyrraa M Banerji, Aishwarya Sharma and Soundous Moufakir.

It will premiere on the Colors channel on Saturday.