‘Akshay Kumar was in tears’: Samrat Prithviraj director says he and actor have learnt not ‘to tamper with history’ after film failed

Chandraprakash Dwivedi said that he was “not ashamed” to admit that the team did not fulfill its responsibility towards the audience. “In this film, different people had different roles and responsibilities. I was the weakest of the lot. Had people fulfilled their duties, then this question would not have come up?” he said as he spoke about the team failing on different fronts.

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The director then spoke about producer Aditya Chopra and said that he is actively involved in the films he produces but here, their idea of a historical film on Prithviraj was poles apart. “People who get a producer like Aditya Chopra are quite fortunate. He is a sorted man who sees the project through but he has his own vision, and that was with regards to Prithviraj as well. He is not just a financier, he is also a creative person. He had certain ideas which should have been discussed in the beginning. I think his and my idea of history is poles apart. There was never a point where I did not not express my objections to him. But despite putting across my objections, I did the film anyway,” he shared. Dwivedi added that one person even commented that “this looks like the lead actor is wearing clothes from Manyavar,” and he shared this with Chopra. “During the making, YRF believed that this film will work wonders. No one thought that this would be the fate of the film,” he shared.

Chandraprakash Dwivedi said that after the debacle of Samrat Prithviraj, he and Akshay Kumar have both learnt that “no one should tamper with history”. He continued, “Even after the film, I told Akshay that this country sees you as a national icon…” and when he shared the criticism that the film was getting, Akshay had “tears in his eyes”. “Akshay is a successful actor and he has that place in my life where I can criticise him to his face. I did not just critricse him in words, I also wrote to him about it on email, and even after that, there was no tension in our relationship,” he said. The actor and director later collaborated on Ram Setu and OMG 2, where Dwivedi was the creative producer of the film.

Samrat Prithviraj was one of the biggest failures of 2022. The film made only Rs 68 crore at the box office and was criticised severely.