Filmmaker Hansal Mehta reacted to a news report which compared the OTT viewership of his film The Buckingham Murders, starring Kareena Kapoor Khan, with Kriti Sanon and Kajol's Do Patti. While Do Patti released directly on Netflix on October 25, The Buckingham Murders first hit the theatres on September. It started streaming on Netflix from November 8.
On his official X account, on Wednesday (November 13), Mehta took to his official X account to criticise a news portal that suggested Kareena's portrayal of a woman dealing with personal loss while leading an investigation in The Buckingham Murders couldn't surpass Kriti's performance in Do Patti on OTT.
For those unversed, a Koimoi report revealed that The Buckingham Murders had 42 per cent lower viewership than Do Patti. According to the report, Kareena's film garnered 2.9 million views, while Kriti's movie reached 5 million views.
However, Hansal Mehta argued that despite both films being women-centric, The Buckingham Murders and Do Patti cannot be compared, as The Buckingham Murders had fewer streaming days on the platform.
"Kareena Kapoor Khan's nuanced performance in The Buckingham Murders could not overpower Kriti Sanon in Do Patti - Check out the OTT Verdict," the headline read.
Reacting to it, Mehta wrote, "Idiots. Check number of days that each film ran and compare views accordingly. If you have to go by numbers at least display basic intelligence."
When the news portal explained that the comparison is based on debut week views for all the movies, Hansal replied, "The comparison you’ve drawn is unfair and sounds purposely disparaging. That is my problem. If you have to compare then apples must be compared apples not oranges. You cannot compare a film’s views over 7 days with a film’s views over 3 days. Thank you."
The filmmaker, in another post, also stated that within just a couple of days of its streaming on Netflix, The Buckingham Murders reached No. 5 in the global charts.
In the film, Kareena plays the role of Jasmeet Bhamra, a British Indian detective who is assigned to solve the murder of a 10-year-old child.
The Buckingham Murders also marked Kareena's debut as a producer, alongside Shobha Kapoor and Ektaa Kapoor. The film had its world premiere at the 67th BFI London Film Festival on October 14, 2023.
