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Venkat Prabhu explains why Vijay-starrer GOAT’s Telugu, Hindi versions underperformed; speculates his favourite IPL team CSK might be the reason

Director Venkat Prabhu has now offered his thoughts on why the "Thalapathy" Vijay-starrer GOAT didn’t resonate in the Telugu and Hindi markets.

Director Venkat Prabhu's actioner The Greatest of All Time - GOAT stars "Thalapathy" Vijay in the lead role. (Image: Venkat/Facebook)

Despite being marketed as “Thalapathy” Vijay’s penultimate film before his foray into politics, director Venkat Prabhu’s actioner The Greatest of All Time (GOAT) could not match the opening performance of Vijay’s last outing, director Lokesh Kanagaraj’s Leo, and saw significantly lower collections on its first day. Although the movie has already emerged as the highest-grossing Tamil film of 2024, this achievement is largely due to the industry’s struggles this year, with no major blockbusters and the bigger releases failing to leave a lasting impact.

However, GOAT’s performance remains concerning when compared to Leo. One of the main reasons behind this is the lacklustre performance of the film’s Telugu and Hindi versions. Director Venkat Prabhu himself has now offered his thoughts on why GOAT didn’t resonate in these markets.

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During an interaction with fans on X (formerly Twitter) Spaces, Venkat Prabhu speculated that his favourite Indian Premier League (IPL) team might have been the reason the movie failed to connect with non-Tamil audiences. The climax of GOAT unfolds at the MA Chidambaram Stadium, also known as Chepauk Stadium, during an IPL match between the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and the Mumbai Indians (MI), with CSK shown in a favourable position.

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“Because of that, Mumbai Indians and Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) fans troll me. We are all CSK fans – it’s in our blood and we can’t deny that. Maybe, it’s because of the CSK connection that this movie didn’t appeal much to Telugu and Hindi audiences. I don’t think they enjoyed the moment like we did,” he said in Tamil.

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According to reports, GOAT has already grossed over Rs 300 crore globally. Its India nett collection currently stands at Rs 155.6 crore, according to industry tracker Sacnilk. Produced by AGS Entertainment with a substantial budget of Rs 400 crore, the film also stars Sneha, Prashanth, Prabhu Deva, Ajmal Ameer and Mohan in key roles. The movie’s technical crew includes cinematography by Siddhartha Nuni, editing by Venkat Raajen and music by Yuvan Shankar Raja.

In his review of the movie, The Indian Express’ Avinash Ramachandran wrote, “Vijay’s The Greatest of All Time is effectively shouldered by an in-form superstar, but crumbles under the pressure of having an old school template one-liner that is heavily reliant on a singular idea.”

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