Sriram Raghavan‘s ‘Agent Vinod’ hit theatres in 2012 amid considerable hype, only to turn out as one of the year’s most notable flops. The setback was particularly personal for actor Saif Ali Khan, who had both starred in and produced the film. In a recent video, he revealed that even with a massive budget backing the project, it still failed to click with audiences. That said, he also referred to it as a valuable learning experience, saying he gained several new skills over the course of making it.
Saif Ali Khan on what went wrong with the film
In a conversation on Rotoris’ YouTube channel, Saif joined comedian-actor Vir Das, sarod player Ayaan Ali Bangash, chef Prateek Sadhu, and wildlife presenter-filmmaker Suyash Keshari for a candid chat. Discussing failures with the group, Saif shared, “We produced a film, Agenda Vinod. We had just had a successful production company. We could have made anything and we got vast budgets to make it. It opened well, but didn’t really work. That was a failure, we learnt. We produced it well, we did good music.”
Saif Ali Khan says the effort still counted, despite the failure
Saif went on to add that even when a film doesn’t succeed, the effort put into making it still counts for something. “Films fail all the time, but the effort of making them… We had to learn various skills and kind of do stuff. We had gone to Vietnam to learn a certain kind of martial art. In our business, it’s a failure at the moment, but if you worked hard, you learned or picked something up, it’s still ok.”
Saif Ali Khan calls Agent Vinod a “vanity project”
Speaking to Variety India in an interview this past June, Saif described ‘Agent Vinod’ as a “vanity project.” Looking back at why the film didn’t work, he said, “I think of Agent Vinod as a film that might have been vain. But also, that film opened really well, you know. It’s just that it did not sustain because it probably wasn’t a tightly made film, or it went off track in many ways. Or, as Sriram himself said, he put too many toppings on the pizza. But the idea wasn’t bad, and the title wasn’t bad, and it was the right film to make. Imagine a kind of spy movie ahead of its time, perhaps. It was a cool film, but it should have held more. Maybe we made some mistakes. But my point is: it was vanity. I was excited to do that. I made the film for myself, but it did open well. So its failure was not because it was a vain idea.”
Lalit Parimoo had blamed lead actors for the film’s failure
Days before Saif’s remarks, actor Lalit Parimoo, who had also featured in the film, claimed that excessive interference from lead actors Saif and Kareena Kapoor Khan was behind Agent Vinod’s failure. In conversation with Siddharth Kannan, he said, “I think the main reason was that there was too much interference from the stars, Saif and Kareena. The way Sriram wanted to make that film, he couldn’t make it that way. He was constantly being told what he should do, so it became a mess. The writing and the direction team… They didn’t get to present what they wanted. That was the flaw of the film.“
About ‘Agent Vinod’
Directed by Sriram Raghavan, the 2012 action spy-thriller featured Saif and Kareena alongside Adil Hussain, Ravi Kishan, Prem Chopra, Ram Kapoor, and Gulshan Grover in key roles. The film was produced by Saif Ali Khan and Dinesh Vijan, with music composed by Pritam. ‘Agent Vinod’ followed the story of RAW officer Vinod (Saif Ali Khan), who traverses the globe to foil a major terrorist plot involving a stolen nuclear suitcase bomb aimed at New Delhi.
