He has been part of the entertainment industry for close to 15 years now, but Shantanu Maheshwari still likes to call himself ‘new’, at least when it comes to films. The actor has a new film coming out, in which he plays the lead – Love in Vietnam. Ahead of the release, he speaks with HT about the film, return of romance to Bollywood, and more.
On re-emergence of romance in Bollywood
Love in Vietnam is an intense love story that also stars Avneet Kaur and Vietnamese actor Khả Ngân. Talking about the re-emergence of the romantic genre in Hindi cinema, Shantanu says, “I always believe that love stories will travel and find an audience. It’s just that koi ache se nahi bana raha tha jo ekdum lage dil par (nobody was making it properly so it touches your heart) and becomes this generation’s biggest love story. I won’t say our film will definitely do that, but I won’t say it can’t either. That is something the audience has to decide. For that, people need to take chances.”
Of K-dramas and more
Post-pandemic, the failure of several romantic films at the box office gave rise to the notion that romance was dead commercially. Even Shah Rukh Khan broke his hiatus with back-to-back mass actioners. But Saiyaara’s success dispelled that myth. Shantanu believes that the course correction was inevitable. “I always believe people will always watch what you want to show. I learnt this from Sanjay Leela Bhansali sir. He said ‘You just need the conviction to tell your story.’ It’s not as if we had forgotten love stories. We moved to K Dramas. We were shifting our medium, but always consuming them. I am sure market research must have informed that people are moving towards that side, so we need to bring back love stories,” he says.
Saiyaara, the Mohit Suri film, starred two newcomers in Ahaan Panday and Avneet Kaur. Despite the lack of star power, it ended up earning ₹570 crore, becoming the highest-grossing romantic film in Indian cinema. “People were hungry for this kind of content. They loved the pairing, the freshness, and accepted it. They gave their love to it,” Shantanu says.
On being ‘new’ to films
However, he agrees that it takes a lot of effort for actors like him and his Love in Vietnam co-star Avneet Kaur, who are both known for their work on TV and OTT. “It’s difficult for us. We are here, established, but still very new to the big screen leagues. We’ll have to reach out to people harder,” he says, adding, “You need to bring good stories and then reach out to the audience. Often, a good film is made, but people are not aware of it, and then it just dies down.”
Directed by Rahat Shah Kazmi, Love in Vietnam also stars Farida Jalal, Raj Babbar, and Gulshan Grover in pivotal roles. The film, based on the novel Madonna in a Fur Coat, is releasing in theatres on 12 September.
