Samantha Ruth Prabhu’s Shaakuntalam came as a big jerk in my 25-year career in Telugu films: Producer Dil Raju

Producer Dil Raju, who had backed Samantha Ruth Prabhu’s Shaakuntalam in the Telugu states, opened up about the film’s box office failure in a recent interview. Admitting that the fate of the film was sealed on the first Monday, he said Shaakuntalam gave a big jerk in his 25-year-long career. Also read: Madhoo reacts to failure of Samantha Ruth Prabhu’s Shaakuntalam despite 'strong South Indian flavour'

The Gunasekhar directorial, which was dubbed and released in Tamil as well as in Hindi, didn’t manage to gross over ₹10 crore in its opening weekend, which was said to be the lowest opening for a Telugu film made over a budget of ₹50 crore.

In an interview to Rajesh Manna on his YouTube Channel, Raju opened up about his long stint as a producer and distributor. “In over 50 films I’ve produced so far, there were only four or five films, which turned financially bad. Recently, Shaakuntalam came as a big jerk in my 25-year career in the film industry,” Dil Raju said.

Talking about Shaakuntalam, he further said, “I accept if something doesn’t work out. I believed in the film and thought if the audiences love it, they would celebrate it. When it didn’t, my judgement went wrong and the film misfired.”

In Shaakuntalam, Samantha played the central character Shakuntala, daughter of Menaka and Viswamithra. The project marked her maiden collaboration with director Gunasekhar. Samantha had described Shaakuntalam as the closest she could get to her dream of playing a ‘Disney princess’.

“And I finally watched the movie today! Gunasekhar garu (brother)... you have my heart. What a beautiful film! One of our greatest epics brought to life so endearingly! I can’t wait for our family audiences to be swept away by the powerful emotions! And all you kids out there… you’re going to love our magical world! Dil Raju garu and Neelima… Thank you for this wonderful journey. #Shaakuntalam will forever be close to me (sic),” she had tweeted ahead of the film's release.

Recently, actor Madhoo had opened up on Shaakuntalam and she said its dull performance at the box office had hurt her. In an interview with DNA, she said that the film has underperformed despite the earnest and honest efforts of the makers. In the film, Madhoo plays Menaka, who happens to be the mother of Samantha’s character Shakuntala.