Writer-turned-filmmaker Milap Zaveri directed Satyameva Jayate (2018)starring in the lead role and it became a massive box office success.
Three years later, he made its sequel Satyameva Jayate 2 (2021) but this time it had as many as three John Abrahams in the film.
The supposed mass action entertainer became a big box office disaster and received criticism from almost everyone who watched it.
© Emmay Entertainment
Now, in an interview, Milap has opened up about the massive failure of Satyameva Jayate 2 and the eventual fallout with John Abraham.
He told Siddharth Kannan on his YouTube channel, “Honestly, there was a period of about two to three months when he wasn’t communicating. I reached out through phone calls and messages, and he eventually replied saying, ‘Milap, I’m very sad.’ He didn’t say he was upset with me; he said he was sad because he had a lot riding on this film, he was very excited, and he was upset that it didn’t work out. He had gone into a shell for a while, but later we talked. I met John, and we hugged it out. John told me, ‘I will do a film with you. I love you; I believe in you as a director. When a great script comes, I will work with you.’ He told me that. But obviously, something had broken. Somewhere, both our hearts were broken because the film didn’t succeed. More than anything, I felt I let him down. I felt I let John down; he trusted me blindly. He did whatever I told him to do. Hats off to him for that. There were some moments when he wasn’t happy; he felt I was going too over the top, that I was making it too cinematic. But he did everything.”
Milap further talked about how John had his reservation with certain things in the film but decided to go along with the filmmaker’s vision.
He said, “Today, if you see my film, it’s the film I wanted to make. Nobody stopped me; nobody held me back from making what I wanted. Yes, a couple of times he had his issues. I have to give him credit; he told me a few things, and I convinced him otherwise. He did what I wanted him to do. Everyone, including Monisha Advani, Bhushan Kumar, and everyone else, supported me. When the film didn’t work out, I felt I let down Bhushan, I let down Monisha. But I will tell you one thing, after that, Bhushan has always been wonderful with me. Monisha, to this day, is one of my closest friends. Many people dispersed, many left after the failure of Satyameva Jayate 2, but Monisha Advani always stood by me as a friend. We’re not working together on anything right now.”
© Emmay Entertainment
Milap also admitted that the film lacked a coherent storyline, a proper villain and seemed more like a showreel of John Abraham rather than a mass action film, “I was a fan of his and tried to show he could do everything on screen, but that love backfired.”
Three years after the failure of Satyameva Jayate 2, Milap is now making a comeback as a dialogue writer with Rohit Shetty’s Singham Again starring Ajay Devgn.
As a director, he is currently busy working on starring Riteish Deshmukh, Aftab Shivdasani and Vivek Oberoi.
