Anupam Kher’s passion project Tanvi the Great hit theatres on the same day as Yash Raj Films’ Saiyaara. While Mohit Suri’s film — starring newcomers Aneet Padda and Ahaan Panday — went on to become the year’s biggest blockbuster, Kher’s film stood no chance. During a recent interview, the veteran actor-director candidly admitted how Tanvi the Great got “completely wiped out” by the Saiyaara storm.“I worked for four years on this film, one year of writing, one year of music. I wrote and directed the film. We released the film on the same day when Yash Raj Films’ Saiyaara was releasing and it got completely wiped out. It depressed me. It made me feel very sad, not just for myself, but for the new actor, whom I took from my acting school, and almost 200 people worked on the film,” Kher told The Indian Express.
Ahaan Panday Wins Praise From Veteran Actor Anupam Kher 
Financial struggles before release
The actor further revealed that Tanvi the Great had run into financial trouble just weeks before its release, as the financer backed out a month prior. To cover the costs of the big-budget film, he turned to his friends — doctors, lawyers, and others — who stepped in with financial support. The film went on to have its world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival, was screened in New York where Robert De Niro watched it until the interval and praised it, and was even shown to the President of India.
“The world wanted to see a love story”
Despite the critical efforts, Kher admitted that the timing of Tanvi the Great proved fatal. “Everything was going fine, but the world wanted to see a love story and rightfully so. A young, teenage love story had not come for a long time. And the system here is that even if you’re releasing the film in 400 theatres, if the other film is doing very well, they will remove your film. So it was a failure which was very heartbreaking for me,” he shared.
Surprised by Saiyaara’s success
When asked which film’s success surprised him the most, Kher pointed to Saiyaara. He remarked that even Aditya Chopra must have been taken aback by its performance, as it surprised everyone. He added that he was grateful the film belonged to the Chopra family, with whom he had grown up in cinema, noting that if it had been someone else’s film, the experience would have been far more painful.According to trade reports, Saiyaara went on to collect a staggering Rs 569.75 crore worldwide.
