Raj Nidimoru and Krishna DK scored big as writers with "Stree" and the director duo says they are aware of the pressure which rides on their next venture following the massive success of the film.
Written by Raj and DK , "Stree", featuring Rajkummar Rao and Shraddha Kapoor, went on to become one of the biggest hits of 2018.
The horror-comedy not only worked at the box office but also received critical acclaim for its crisp writing and witty dialogues by Sumit Arora.
At a panel discussion at the ongoing FICCI Frames, Raj said the pressure of success was so huge that director of the film, Amar Kaushik, wanted the box office collection to stop at Rs 60 crore. The film went on to earn approximately Rs 130 cr.
"The biggest thing which comes with success is fear. You're put in a position of fear immediately, thinking 'how the hell am I going to match this damn film'. Amar was telling me 'sir I hope this stops at RS 60 crore. If it goes above 60, I'll die. I don't know what to do next time,'" Raj said.
"Till we let go of the fear, there's nothing we can do... You need to normalise yourself otherwise you're screwed," he added.
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Mid-budget films by Raj and DK, like "Shor in the City" and "Go Goa Gone" have worked at the box office, however, their big scale projects "A Gentleman" and "Happy Ending" did not click with the audience.
Their situation was similar to that of Anurag Kashyap and Aanand L Rai, whose much ambitious projects "Bombay Velvet" and "Zero" respectively bombed at the box office.
When asked if big films make things tough for filmmakers, Raj said, "There are more constraints while making a big film, more factors to consider because there is a bigger budget...
"I haven't seen 'Zero' but from what I understand it's a heavily high concept film for a superstar. I was shocked that a film like that is designed for that matter."