Why Sikandar failed: Rashmika Mandanna blames it on ‘script that changed’ as Salman Khan-AR Murugadoss spar over lack of accountability

Rashmika, who plays the wife of Salman’s character in Sikandar, is killed in the first half itself. The rest of the movie revolves around Salman’s character trying to exact revenge from the chief antagonist, played by Sathyaraj. Even Salman admitted last year that he doesn’t regret doing the film because the “plot was good”.

Murugadoss blames it on Hindi film industry

Last year, during the promotions of his Telugu action thriller Madhraasi, Murugadoss explained where Sikandar went wrong. “I can take up Telugu films, but Hindi may not work for us because after we write the script, they translate into English. Then it is again translated in Hindi. We can only guess what they are saying, but we are exactly not sure about what is happening,” he said.

“When you make film in an unknown language and place, it feels like you are handicapped. It is like you don’t have hands. I strongly believe our strength depends on where and which culture we come from,” added the filmmaker, best known in Bollywood for hits like Aamir Khan-starrer Ghajini (2008) and Akshay Kumar-starrer Holiday: A Soldier Is Never Off Duty (2014).

Murugadoss also blamed the superstar culture prevalent in the Hindi film industry today. “It’s not easy to shoot with a star. Even day scenes, we have to shoot at night because he turns up on set only by 8 PM. We are used to shooting right from early mornings, but that’s not how things work there,” he told Valaipechu Voice last year.

Salman hit back at Murugadoss

Salman wasn’t pleased with Murugadoss’ remarks. On an episode of Bigg Boss 18 Weekend Ka Vaar last year, he justified coming to late on set because he was recovering from the broken rib he sustained while doing action sequences during the shoot. He argued that if the issue was with the lead actor’s punctuality, Murugadoss’ Madhraasi with Sivakarthikeyan turned out to be an even bigger flop than Sikandar even though the lead actor arrived on time. Madhraasi earned Rs 62.57 crore at the domestic box office, on a budget of Rs 100 crore.

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“Toh pahle toh ye picture thi Murugadoss aur Sajid Nadiadwala ki. Uske baad Sajid pehle kalti, Murugadoss wapas se hat gaya wahan se seedha South mein picture ki (Initially the film belonged to Murugadoss and Sajid Nadiadwala, but later Sajid escaped. Then, Murugadoss also left and made a film in South),” said Salman, also blaming Nadiadwala for disowning the film after its box office failure.