The Raja Saab director Maruthi REACTS to criticism for Prabhas film: 'The intellectuals who didn't understand it are...'

Headlined by Prabhas, the fantasy horror comedy The Raja Saab hit theatres on January 9 and received a thunderous opening. The Maruthi directorial collected Rs 112 crore gross worldwide on its first day of release, becoming the sixth Prabhas film to score the Rs 100-crore opening after Baahubali 2, Saaho, Adipurush, Salaar, and Kalki 2898 AD. However, The Raja Saab is also facing huge criticism from a section of the audiences and the critics for its weak script, senseless story, cringe dialogues, and messy direction with some even calling it "one of the biggest cinematic disappointments."

The makers held a press conference in Hyderabad on Saturday, in which they responded to the negative reactions for the film. Director Mauthi said, "The intellectuals are discussing various episodes in the film, and the ones who didn’t understand it are the ones cursing us. I have seen a lot of mixed reactions. All I urge is for everyone not to prejudge the film and decide the result." TG Vishwa Prasad, who has bankrolled the film under his banner People Media Factory, added, "We are very happy. We expected it to cross Rs 100 crore, but it made Rs 112 crore. Many families and kids are coming to the theatres and appreciating it. A few intellectuals are giving mixed feedback and going too deep into the story."

Maruthi and Prasad also talked about the scenes featuring Prabhas in old look that were featured in the trailer but were missing from the film, leaving the fans disappointed. The director stated, "Prabhas fans aren’t disappointed with the film, but aren’t satisfied either. That's because we showed him in an old getup in the trailer with an attitude and swag. In the process of searching for that look, the fans' brains couldn’t process the story I was showing. Keeping that in mind, I sat last evening to make the second half of the film sharper and include the missing scenes from the 6 PM show today. I am sure that the 8-9 minute episode will be mind-blowing." 

"There’s a 4-minute content of Prabhas in his old avatar that’s missing in the movie. One week back, due to an unfortunate incident and the server being down, we had the output, but it needed cleanup and minor corrections. We have done it and sent it to theatres now", the producer explained the reason why such scenes went missing from the film.

The production house also shared on its social media handles that new scenes will be added from Saturday evening. "THE ONE YOU ALL HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR. OLD GETUP SEQUENCE is finally adding from today’s evening shows onwards", the post read. The Raja Saab also stars Sanjay Dutt, Boman Irani, Nidhhi Agerwal, Malavika Mohanan, Riddhi Kumar and Zarina Wahab.

READ | The Raja Saab box office collection day 1: Prabhas scores his sixth Rs 100-crore opening, but Hindi version earns only Rs...