Filmmaker S Shankar is being trolled on social media after he recently claimed that his next project, Velpari, has the potential to achieve global recognition akin to Hollywood giants like Avatar and Game Of Thrones.
Speaking at a recent event, the director said, "Enthiran (2010 film with superstar Rajinikanth) was my previous dream project. Now, Velpari is my dream film. It has the scope to introduce new technologies like Game of Thrones and Avatar. Velpari has the potential to become the pride of Tamil cinema and Indian cinema. It can achieve global recognition. Hope the dream comes true."
However, Shankar's grand vision has been met with skepticism and criticism online, particularly in light of the underwhelming performance of his recent films. His latest releases, Game Changer and Indian 2, failed to live up to expectations both critically and commercially.
Ram Charan's Game Changer, reportedly made on a staggering budget of Rs 400 crore, earned only around Rs 186 crore globally, while Indian 2, produced at nearly Rs 250 crore, managed just Rs 150 crore worldwide. Both films were labelled as major box-office disasters, resulting in heavy financial losses for the producers and distributors.
Adding to the trolling are viral interview clips featuring Game Changer producer Dil Raju and members of the film's crew, who had criticised Shankar for delivering a subpar product and for his alleged unprofessional working style.
Netizens trolls S Shankar
Soon after his Velpari comments surfaced, a section of social media users also expressed disappointment over the fact that the director hasn't publicly acknowledged or taken responsibility for the failures of these films.
Reacting to his statement, an X user wrote, "Producer will have to beg after this film.. 🐸Sir, at least try to do good films in limited budget scale. You wastes too much money! Who spent 75 cr for song only?"
Another commented, "#Shankar should better stop making high budget movies that put producers at high risk. His last 3-4 films tanked heavily."
"RETIREMENT Technology is well suits him @shankarshanmugh for now.... If he keeps want to make film den he shud produce that film himself and release it too himself without any partnership," wrote another user.
"Kabhi nhi...Shankar sab outdated wahi purani ghispiti story pe movie banata h, ye kabhi nhi waisa movie bana skta h ab aur chala h avatar jaise technology use krne k liye," trolled another X user.
"Another 500cr disaster film loading," another comment read.
Another person opined, "He is focused on spending crazy amount of money while not focusing on his script. Will be a disaster. He is needs to make a small movie to build trust with the audience before going for another big budget movie."
Here's how others reacted:
Shankar had earlier announced Velpari, an adaptation of the historical novel of the same name, but following his recent track record, doubts have been raised over who will produce the film.
