Jailer director Nelson says his calculations went wrong in Vijay’s Beast: ‘Had I invested six to seven months more…’

“Had I invested an additional six to seven months and meticulously crafted the movie, the responses to it might not have been so mixed. Initially, I believed I could finish the film within a set timeframe, but my calculations turned out to be inaccurate,” Nelson expressed in a conversation with Film Companion.

“The Covid outbreak disrupted our shooting plans, preventing us from executing them as intended. There was room for some enhancement in the VFX, and certain scenes were still pending to be filmed. Various challenges arose, leading to several issues during the production process,” he added.

Nelson Dilipkumar on what Vijay told him after Beast failure

During a recent interview with Galatta Plus, Nelson had mentioned how Vijay reacted after Beast’s release. “To be frank, when the film was released, he told ‘We made a film. You made what you told me you will. We put in our best effort. Some liked it, and some didn’t. We can’t do anything about it now. Let’s try doing something better next time.’ I then asked him if he is upset with me,” Nelson recalled.

“He looked perplexed and asked ‘Why would I be pissed with you?’ I told him because the film is only getting a mixed response. He said ‘Yov (Arre)’ and left. He then came back and asked ‘So, our friendship is nothing more than a film, is it? You have hurt me by asking this’”.

Stating that Vijay congratulated him following the success of Jailer, Nelson said: “He texted me saying he is happy about the success. That’s how we are. People keep saying a lot of things. It is better not to respond to all of that.”

Apart from Vijay, Beast also starred Pooja Hegde, Selvaraghavan, Shaji Chen, VTV Ganesh, and Ankur Vikal in key roles. Bankrolled by Kalanithi Maran for Sun Pictures, Beast minted approximately Rs 216.58 crore worldwide, according to the industry tracker Sacnilk, surpassing its budget of about Rs 150 crore.