Sara Ali Khan has great potential, says Abhishek Kapoor

Sara Ali Khan in Kedarnath

Over a week since the release of Kedarnath, director Abhishek Kapoor says he is happy with the way the film has maintained a steady pace at the box office. The director was entrusted the responsibility of introducing Sara Ali Khan to the world of movies.

However, he insists that his storytelling took precedence over launching the star kid. "I am devoted to my stories, and I am fortunate to have been given the liberty to work with fresh faces. It's not an easy path. While working with Sushant Singh Rajput, we had to bust the myth that TV actors don't succeed in Bollywood. With Sara, it was different. She might have been raw but had the talent, which had to be channelised to make her shine."

Abhishek Kapoor

Kapoor and his protege had hit a rough patch in May when Khan reassigned her dates, initially allotted to Kedarnath, to her other project ­- Simmba. An irked Kapoor had sent a legal notice to her. But what followed was a display of genuine warmth as they put their differences on the backburner, and completed the romance saga. "We both believed in the movie we were making. We had to solve the date screw-up. But I have to give it to the girl - when on set, she was a professional. She has great potential."

While the Sushant Singh Rajput starrer received mixed reviews, social media users had a field day labelling Kedarnath as desi Titanic, owing to the similarities of a romance set against a natural disaster. Kapoor takes the comparison head-on as he says, "Just because it has been done before, shouldn't deter me from saying it again in a different way. My film is about how we are divided on the basis of religion."

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