‘Samrat Prithviraj’ director Chandraprakash Dwivedi blames the lead actor Akshay Kumar for the Box Office failure of the movie.
As the historical drama bombs at the Box Office, with a total collection standing at INR80 crore against the mega-budget of INR300 crore, the director of the title Dwivedi hints that the controversies of the main lead and his latest Pan Masala endorsement might be the reason of the debacle.
During a recent interview with an India-based magazine, Dwivedi stated that Akshay’s ‘past behaviour’ and ‘public comments’ might have turned audiences against him. Indirectly he also indicated that his ‘Pan Masala endorsement and the controversy have subsequently resulted’ in the failure of ‘Samrat Prithviraj’.
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It is pertinent to mention that the director earlier revealed his first choice to play the lead. In a conversation, he noted that the story for ‘Samrat Prithviraj’ was penned 18 years ago while thinking about Sunny Deol in the leading role.
Further, citing ‘political victimization’ as a possible reason for the BO failure, Dwivedi remarked, “I would have liked it very much if historians questioned this film or told their story.”
“Now because you do not want to hear the story according to me and are therefore dismissing it outright, it is completely wrong. History doesn’t work that way.”
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“We made the film on a big scale, but people could not connect with the film,” he said. “Still don’t understand what is wrong with them. The writers did their work with utmost sincerity.”
“We have not tampered with the facts of history. We understand this responsibility very well.”
Samrat Prithviraj sees Akshay Kumar and Manushi Chhillar playing leading roles, while, the rest of the cast includes Sanjay Dutt, Sonu Sood, Manav Vij, Ashutosh Rana, Sakshi Tanwar and Aishwarya Raj Bhakuni.
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The film is written and helmed by Chandra Prakash Dwivedi. It is co-produced by Aditya Chopra, Bharat Rawail, Sanjay Shivalkar and Amit Tomar.
