Star power sometimes overshadows movie content: Anil Sharma

Director Anil Sharma feels that stars set the cash registers ringing at the box office but sometimes a film's content gets eclipsed by them.
"Star power does exist, stars can pull the audience to theatres. One of the reasons for the film to do well commercially is the star... The film does a phenomenal business because of them. The sad part is at times content takes a back seat, gimmicks are added because of stars," Sharma told PTI.
Sharma has worked with stars like Dharmendra and his sons Sunny Deol and Bobby Deol, Salman Khan, Amitabh Bachchan, Akshay Kumar and others but he insists he has never experienced the negative side of working with stars.

Sharma and Sunny Deol are now back with action packed drama 'Singh Saab the Great'.
The duo earlier worked together in 'Gadar: Ek Prem Katha', 'The Hero: Love Story of a Spy' and 'Apne'.
Sharma said because of the bond that they share, it is relatively easy to convince Sunny for a film, provided the story is good.

"We share a good bonding...Deols are like family. If the story is good I am sure they will not say no to the film. I narrated him the story (of 'Singh Saab....') and he felt the emotions of it correctly and came on board," Sharma said.

Sharma is pinning high hopes on 'Singh Saab the Great', that opens in theatres today.
The scenario in the country with regard to corruption formed the germ of the idea for the movie, he said.
"Everyone was fighting corruption in their own way. I felt as a filmmaker I should contribute in my own way to society and hence made this film," he said.
The film also stars Urvashi Rautela, Amrita Rao, Prakash Raj, Johny Lever and others.