Amid reports that Samantha’s Shaakuntalam lost Rs 20 cr, producer Dil Raju says ‘The film came as a big jerk in my 25-year career’

Samantha Ruth Prabhu's Shaakuntalam failed to bring in the audience. Producer Dil Raju has now admitted that it was one of the biggest losses of his career.

Dil Raju, Samantha, and Gunasekhar after the special screening of Shaakuntalam

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A lot of hype was built around the mythical fantasy film Shaakuntalam, which had Samantha Ruth Prabhu in the titular role. Directed by Gunasekhar of Rudhramaadevi fame, the film was the re-telling of the ancient play Abhijnana Shakuntalam, written by Kalidasa. Amid largely negative reviews, the film failed to garner footfalls in theatres. The film, reportedly made on a budget of Rs 65 crore, suffered a loss of Rs 20 crore, according to reports. Now, without revealing any figures, Dil Raju, the producer of the film, has admitted that Shaakuntalam is one of the biggest flops in his career.

In an interview on a YouTube channel, the producer was asked about his best and worst years as a producer, and he replied, “2017 was an ultimate year for me as it brought so many profits (Shatamanam Bhavati, Nenu Local, Middle Class Abbayi) for me. There were only four or five films out of my 50 productions which turned financially bad. Recently, Shaakuntalam came as a big jerk in my 25-year career in the film industry.”

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“I accept it. I believed in the project. If the audience like it, they will make it a blockbuster. If they won’t accept it, that means it was a misfire and wrong judgement. Later on, we would have to check what went wrong. I trusted the film that’s why I had a preview show four days before the actual release, but the calculation went wrong. I knew then that the film was receiving mixed reviews. So, from Day 1 of the film, I was ready,” he said.

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While Samantha never directly commented on the film’s fate, she shared a statement from Bhagavad Gita, which said that one can only put in the hard work and should be indifferent towards the outcome. Sharing a picture of herself, she shared a shloka from the Hindu text, “Karmanye vadhika raste, Ma phaleshu kadachana Ma karma phala he tur bhuh, ma te sangotsva karmanye (You have a right to actions but not the fruits of it. You should never be motivated by the results of your actions, nor should there be any attachment to it).”

Currently, Dil Raju is producing Game Changer, which has Ram Charan in the lead role and it is directed by Shankar. On the other hand, Samantha will next be seen in Khushi alongside Vijay Deverakonda. She is also part of the Citadel (Hindi) series of Amazon Prime Video.

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