Producer Dil Raju gets defensive when asked about Ram Charan's Game Changer box office poster: ‘We have weaknesses’

Producer Dil Raju had two releases this Sankranthi - Game Changer and Sankranthiki Vasthunnam. Here's what he said about them at a press meet.

Producer Dil Raju released two films this Sankranthi: Shankar’s Game Changer and Anil Ravipudi’s Sankranthiki Vasthunam. While the big-budget drama with Ram Charan and Kiara Advani failed to make a mark, the latter film starring Venkatesh is bringing in big bucks. The producer's comment about flops being declared hits boomeranged back to him at a recent press meet. (Also Read: Chiranjeevi's mom Anjana Devi hugs him on her birthday; feeds Ram Charan cake. Watch)

Ram Charan and Kiara Advani in a still from Shankar's Game Changer.

Dil Raju gets defensive

Raju held a press meet in Hyderabad on Saturday with some distributors to prove how big a success Sankranthiki Vasthunam is. According to Sacnilk, the film, made on a small budget, earned over ₹170 crore net in India since its release on January 14. The producers claimed that the film earned over ₹276 crore gross worldwide in 13 days.

Talking about the success, Raju told the press, “Sankranthiki Vasthunam—we have spoken about this film’s success at many events before this. Even when distributors face losses, the film industry projects films as hits without breaking even. But if you ask area-wise, you realise the losses. The culture has changed now. We see 90% of failures in this industry, but this film is different.”

This came back to bite the producer when he opened the floor to the press and was asked about claiming that Game Changer made over ₹186 crore gross worldwide on its opening day. According to Sacnilk, it earned ₹80 crore worldwide on day 1. Raju defensively asked, “What do you know about it?”

When the reporter answered that he was only seeking clarity on whether it was the production house's decision to claim that amount or someone else, Raju said, “I’ve already said we (producers) have weaknesses we can’t discuss. I admit that, no. Don’t you know how much the film has already collected? So you calculate and put out posters for films now.”

Distributor L Venkateshwara Rao also commented that even if ‘producers and distributors lie,’ the audience doesn’t believe it. “They’re laughing at our posters (claiming big box office numbers), everyone knows it,” he said.

Response to the Game Changer poster

While Raju continued to post updates about how much Sankranthiki Vastunnam made at the box office, he stopped posting updates after day 1 for Game Changer due to trolling.

After he was accused of inflating the box office numbers, Ram Gopal Varma came to his defence on X (formerly Twitter). He wrote, “I don’t know who’s behind this unbelievably naive lies, but for sure it can’t be producer Dil Raju because he is a truly grounded realist and he’s incapable of the fraud that is being commited. (sic)”

Game Changer, which also starred Kiara Advani and SJ Suryah in the lead roles, earned ₹130 crore net in India and ₹185.1 crore worldwide in 18 days of release.