Salman Khan fans slam AR Muragadoss for comment on star's indiscipline post Sikandar failure: 'You failed as a director'

Salman Khan fans have not taken kindly to Sikandar director AR Murugadoss' recent statement that working with the actor on the ill-fated film was 'not easy'.

When Salman Khan and AR Murugadoss came together for Sikandar, it was a highly-anticipated moment. The filmmaker had given Aamir Khan his first mass hit in Ghajini in 2008, and Salman fans hoped he could help turn around their star's career after a couple of underperformers at the box office. But the film was panned critically and crashed at the box office. In a recent interview, director Murugadoss detailed his experience of working with Salman on the film, calling it 'not easy'. Salman's fans have construed this statement as a blame towards the actor, calling out the filmmaker for attacking him.

What AR Murugadoss said

AR Murugadoss with Salman Khan on the sets of Sikandar.

In a recent interview with Valaipechu Voice, Murugadoss talked about the experience of filming Sikanda. “It’s not easy to shoot with a star. Even day scenes, we have to shoot at night because he turns up on set only by 8 PM. We are used to shooting right from early mornings, but that’s not how things work there,” he said, adding that it also affected the other actors on set, “If there were four kids in a scene, we would have to shoot with them at 2 AM, even if it’s the shot of them returning from school! They would become tired by that time and usually dozed off.”

Salman Khan fans react

Fans of the actor took to Twitter (now called X) to vent their frustration against what they saw as an attack on Salman Khan. "#ARMurugadoss does not acknowledge his failure. While his claims against the actor may hold some truth, but as director you r the captain of the project. If you can't control ur cast, then the responsibility lies with you. Prod, Director and the lead actor all r responsible IMO," wrote one.

Many others pointed out that Murugadoss has given flops or below average performing films with superstars like Rajinikanth as well. “Sikandar didn't work #Salman is responsible.Darbar didn't work #Rajinikanth is responsible. So for @ARMurugadoss, blaming actors is better than making a good story.” Dissecting the filmmaker's box office record, one tweet pointed out, “No doubt Salman was too bad in Sikandar but script itni waahiyat aur direction itna ghatiya tha ki movie De Niro & DiCaprio ke sath bhi disaster hi hoti. So putting all the blame on Salman alone, doesn't make any sense! Murugadoss himself struggling for a Hit since last 11 years.”

One fan summed up the sentiment by tweeting, "Even if Tom Cruise had played the lead, this film would still have failed because there was nothing enjoyable in it. The truth is you failed as a director and missed the chance to deliver a real cinematic experience. So stop blaming #SalmanKhan and move on."

All about Sikandar

Sikandar marked Murugadoss' return to Hindi cinema after nine years. Apart from Salman, the film also starred Rashmika Mandanna, Kajal Aggarwal, Sathyaraj, Sharman Joshi, and Prateik Babbar. But despite a huge scale and big names, Sikandar failed to click with the audience. Made on a reported budget of ₹200 crore, the film earned only ₹185 crore worldwide.