Producer Shirish says he thought their ‘lives were over’ after Ram Charan's Game Changer failure; no one offered help

Producer Shirish was speaking of the risk involved in the cinema business when he brought up Shankar's Game Changer and said this.

If there’s one film that surprised everyone this year, and not in a pleasant way, it has to be Shankar’s Ram Charan, SJ Suryah and Kiara Advani-starrer Game Changer. The film was released with high expectations on Sankranthi, and the result was anything but favourable. In a rare interview with Great Andhra, producer Shirish, Dil Raju’s brother, spoke about the aftermath of the film’s failure.

Ram Charan and Kiara Advani in a still from Shankar's much-hyped film Game Changer.

Shirish on Game Changer’s failure almost ‘ruining lives’

Shirish spoke about how risky the film business was and brought up Sankranthiki Vasthunam and Game Changer, which released days apart from each other, as examples. He said, “Everyone knows how risky the cinema business is. For example, look at Sankranthiki Vasthunam and Game Changer. With Game Changer, we thought our lives were over. We got hope from Sankranthiki Vasthunam. Our lives changed within four days. If we didn’t have that, think of our situation now.” 

The producer also mentioned that after Game Changer flopped, nobody, including Ram and Shankar, reached out to him and his brother as a courtesy or to offer help. “When Game Changer flopped, did the hero come and help us? Did the director come and help us? No one even asked us how we were doing, even out of courtesy. I am not blaming anyone because we made the film out of our wish, and we faced losses. We have not come down to the stage of asking back remuneration,” he explained. 

Dil Raju wants to make another film with Ram Charan

In the interview, Shirish said that things remained cordial with Ram, enough that they could pitch him another project. He also said that the actor owes them nothing and is free to say yes or no to the film they pitch. After the interview dropped, Raju spoke at an event for Nithiin’s Thammudu and mirrored his brother’s sentiments. He said, “We had a setback this year with Game Changer, and we feel guilty about not making a super hit with Ram Charan. We are trying to make a hit film with him now. I will hopefully announce it soon.”

Game Changer is one of the biggest debacles this year. The film was mounted on a massive budget and had been in production since 2021. According to Sacnilk, it made ₹186.25 crore worldwide in its lifetime.