Samrat Prithviraj director Chandraprakash Dwivedi has defended Akshay Kumar amid rumours of Yash Raj Films assigning blame for the film’s failure on the star’s perceived disinterest in the project. Produced on a reported budget anywhere between Rs 200 crore and Rs 300 crore, the film failed to crack Rs 80 crore domestically. It is regarded as one of the biggest flops of the year. As per reports, Aditya Chopra, the film’s producer, has now apparently come out strongly against the actor for lack of dedication during the movie.The producer apparently is blaming Akshay for the film’s poor box office showing. A source from Yash Raj Films told National Herald that Aditya wasn’t happy with the actor’s commitment towards the film.
Samrat Prithviraj required him to dedicate time to the film but Akshay “wouldn’t even grow a real moustache” as he was also doing other films simultaneously. The source asked that knowing it was a massive film, why didn’t Akshay just focus on Samrat Prithviraj alone.Meanwhile, the film’s director Dwivedi owned up to the failure, saying that they failed to understand the mood of the film and that resulted in the movie’s content not connecting with the audience. Earlier this week, the filmmaker also weighed in on Akshay statement about textbooks not prioritising Indian kings.The director said that after the actor’s comments, the audience thought that the movie is a historical film. However, he said that Samrat Prithviraj is based on the poem Prithviraj Raso and its historial value has been long debated.The movie, which also has Manushi Chillar, Sanjay Dutt and Sonu Sood, is currently scheduled to release on Amazon Prime Video on July 1.