Amar Kaushik wishes he made Bhediya ‘differently’, says film flopped due to Ajay Devgn’s Drishyam 2 | Bollywood-OxBig News Network

Amar Kaushik on Bhediya’s box office failure

Speaking with Komal Nahta on The Game Changers podcast, Kaushik analysed the box office failure of Bhediya. “Do cheezein thi jo mujhe baad mai samajh mein aayi, ek toh ussi time aa gayi thi (There were two factors that I realised later). Just like Stree 2 released with two other films, Bhediya also had a clash with Drishyam 2 and it was a good film. It was released a week before our film, so it had already created buzz. Sab wohi dekhne jaa rahe the (Everyone was going to watch that). And I made the film targetting the younger crowd and exams were going on at that time. Students didn’t even know. They got to know after the OTT release and liked it very much,” he said.

Bhediya, starring Varun Dhawan, Kriti Sanon, Deepak Dobriyal, and Abhishek Banerjee, was released in November 2022. It grossed only ₹90 crore worldwide and was generally considered an average grosser. Upon its release on streaming in early 2023, the film gained a cult following. During a rapid-fire round towards the end of the interview, Amar added, “Bhediya performed lesser at the box office than I expected and I wish I would have made it differently.”

Bhediya’s legacy

Bhediya, however, paved the way for the horror comedy universe as it borrowed Abhishek Banerjee’s character from Stree, merging the two films. Varun Dhawan then reprised his role as Bhaskar in a cameo in Stree 2. He is set to return in Bhediya 2, part of the next phase of the Horror Comedy Universe.