AR Murugadoss reacts to failure of Rajinikanth’s Darbar, says he 'grew overconfident, miscalculated, rushed the process'

AR Murugadoss has reacted to the failure of Rajinikanth’s Darbar. Here's what he has said.

Filmmaker AR Murugadoss, whose last directorial was the Rajinikanth-starrer Tamil action-drama Darbar, hasn’t had a release in three years after the dismal performance of the film at the box office. In a latest interview, he opened up on the failure of Darbar and his frank response has won fans over on social media. (Also Read | Manisha Koirala reveals the failure of Rajinikanth’s Baba ended her career in south)

Rajinikanth starrer Darbar has been directed by AR Murugadoss.

He also said he had to rush the process of making the film as Rajinikanth was planning to retire from acting and take a full-time plunge into politics. Desperate to score a hit with Rajinikanth, AR Murugadoss said he miscalculated and paid the price.

In an interview with Galatta Plus, Murugadoss explained what went wrong with Darbar and why it failed at the box office. "With Darbar, what happened after a point is that I started believing that I know the process of writing and filmmaking. I felt like I could do it quickly. I had this misunderstanding of my own self and grew overconfident,” Murugadoss said.

“Rajini sir gave his dates. He wanted to start shoot in March. The rains start in Mumbai from the month of June. He was set to launch his party in August. I had very limited time to finish the project so went for the shoot in February. I’m a hardcore Rajini sir fan and I didn’t want to miss the film at any cost. Also, back then this project was supposed to be his last film as he was set to join politics. We had to rush everything,” he added.

Many fans on social media platforms praised Murugadoss for his frankness to open up and talk about his failure. A person wrote, “Rarely do filmmakers honestly talk about their failure. Mature of ARM to open and speak about Darbar.” Another fan asked, “Respect to his frankness to accept failure. Hope he bounces back strongly."

In Darbar, Rajinikanth played Aaditya Arunachalam, a cop who goes on a killing spree to avenge the death of his daughter. The film was predominantly shot in Mumbai and co-starred Nayanthara, Suniel Shetty, and Nivetha Thomas.

Currently, Rajinikanth is working on the Sun Pictures film Jailer. His 170th film will be directed by TJ Gnanavel. The film was announced by Lyca Productions. This marks another collaboration of Rajinikanth with Lyca Productions.

Darbar and Kaala were both produced by Lyca as well. The film will have music by Anirudh and will be produced by Subaskaran. The shoot of the film will commence soon and will hit the screens in 2024, the film's team added.