23 Years of Sarfarosh EXCLUSIVE: “There was one critic; he was a total DICTATOR. He saw only half of Sarfarosh and wrote a very negative review as he had issues with Aamir Khan” – John Matthew Matthan 23 : Bollywood News

Sarfarosh was released nearly 23 years ago, on April 30, 1999, and was a smashing hit at the box office. The audience response was quite positive due to which it ran in cinemas for many weeks. It collected Rs. 18.76 crore at the box office and was the fifth highest grosser of that year. It also got honoured with Best Popular Film Providing Wholesome Entertainment award at the 47th National Film Awards and 4 awards at the 45th Filmfare Awards, namely Best Film (Critics), Best Screenplay, Best Dialogue and Best Editing.

23 Years of Sarfarosh EXCLUSIVE: “There was one critic; he was a total DICTATOR. He saw only half of Sarfarosh and wrote a very negative review as he had issues with Aamir Khan” – John Matthew Matthan

Hence, it’s shocking to know that certain critics were not kind to the film. Bollywood Hungama recently spoke to Sarfarosh’s director John Matthew Matthan. When asked how the critics reacted to the film, he said, “There was one critic; I won’t take his name. He would decide what he wanted to write. He’d even decide which award should go to whom. He was a total dictator. He saw only half of Sarfarosh. He walked out as he had issues with Aamir Khan since the latter would not attend his award functions. So he took his anger out by ridiculing my film and writing a very negative review of it. Imagine, he had not even seen the whole film!”

John Matthew Matthan continued, “Fortunately, he got thrown out. He also made two films, which were horrible. His career ended there. I don’t know whether he’s alive now.”

John Matthew Matthan also added that several critics also appreciated the film. He revealed, “Some critics rated it positively. One critic called it an ‘absolute masterpiece’.”

Besides Aamir Khan, Sarfarosh also starred Sonali Bendre, Naseeruddin Shah, Shri Vallabh Vyas, Pradeep Rawat, Govind Namdev, Makrand Deshpande, Akhilendra Mishra, Manoj Joshi and others. It dealt with an Indian police officer's quest to stop cross-border terrorism.

Also Read: 23 Years Of Sarfarosh EXCLUSIVE: “The film took 3 years to be made as Aamir Khan had signed 3 films. His dates kept getting pushed. Because of one filmmaker, a couple of his films suffered” – John Matthew Matthan