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Producer of Prithviraj’s Vilayath Buddha accuses YouTube channel of resorting to ‘cyberterrorism’ in review

Amid its poor box office performance, Prithviraj Sukumaran's Vilayath Buddha has also become the target of an online smear campaign.

3 min readKochiNov 25, 2025 01:29 PM IST

Actor Prithviraj Sukumaran in director Jayan Nambiar's Vilayath Buddha. (Credit: Facebook/@PrithvirajSukumaran)

Despite arriving amid massive hype, the Prithviraj Sukumaran-starrer Vilayath Buddha has fallen short of expectations and is currently struggling at the box office. Aside from the average-to-negative reviews it garnered following its release on Friday, November 21, a lack of promotion may have also hampered the movie’s prospects. In fact, the actioner is currently trailing behind Eko, a highly unconventional mystery drama sans a star-studded cast.

Meanwhile, rubbing salt into the movie’s wound, Vilayath Buddha has also become the target of an online smear campaign. The film’s producer has now stepped forward and filed an official complaint against a YouTube channel that, he alleged, was spreading religious and political hate under the guise of a film review. Maintaining that the channel posted a video seemingly analysing the Prithviraj film shortly after its release, Sandip Senan, who bankrolled the movie under the banner of his Urvasi Theatres, claimed that it misrepresented the film’s content and pushed narratives aimed at provoking communal tensions, Mathrubhumi reported. He also alleged that the video tried to incite religious and political groups against the movie.

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In a complaint filed at the Ernakulam North police station, Sandip described the video as a form of “cyberterrorism,” claiming it attempted to create religious polarisation while damaging the movie’s reputation. He stated that the clip also accused Prithviraj of promoting an anti-Hindutva agenda, and made personal attacks against the cast and crew of Vilayath Buddha. Noting that he spent about Rs 40 crore on the movie, Sandip Senan added that such campaigns were negatively impacting the film’s performance and causing him considerable losses. Based on the producer’s complaint, the police have registered a case.

Watch Vilayath Buddha trailer here:

According to industry tracker Sacnilk, while Eko’s worldwide collection currently stands at Rs 13.9 crore, the Prithviraj-starrer has managed to earn only Rs 6 crore so far. Local industry tracker What The Fuss reported that while Eko has raked in Rs 6.80 crore from Kerala alone since its premiere, Vilayath Buddha’s collection stands at Rs 3.51 crore. Despite opening at 1,021 shows in the state, the Prithviraj-led actioner has seen a steep decline in footfall, and on Monday, the movie had only 581 shows with an occupancy rate of 8.66 per cent.

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In contrast, Eko, which debuted with only 674 shows, improved its performance and had 988 shows on Monday, with a total occupancy rate of 40.79 per cent. While Vilayath Buddha recorded an India nett collection of just Rs 34 lakh on the day, according to Sacnilk, Eko minted a whopping Rs 1.84 crore.

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In his review of the movie, SCREEN’s Anandu Suresh wrote, “The Prithviraj Sukumaran-starrer suffers from a curious case of the director being seemingly unsure/unready to keep only what’s necessary, instead stubbornly packing the film with as much canned footage as possible.”

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