Samrat Prithviraj director opens up about Akshay Kumar-led film being one of the biggest flops of the year

Samrat Prithviraj is one of the biggest movies of the year that released earlier this month. But it did not manage to have a good run at the box office. Led by Akshay Kumar in the titular role of Samrat Prithviraj, the film tanked and has reportedly made less than Rs 80 crore. The film is now nearing the end of its theatrical run. Recently, the director of the film, Chandraprakash Dwivedi opened up about poor performance of the film at the box office and Akshay's comments on history textbooks not including enough details about Prithviraj Chauhan. 

Akshay had told IANS in Hindi that it is sad how we know very little about our kings. "There are only a few lines about our kings. But there are a lot of chapters on invaders.” In a recent interview with Film Companion, the director Dwivedi said that he was very concerned about not showcasing the Mughals as villains in the film. According to Indian Express, Dwivedi also appeared to distance himself from the actor said.

Dwivedi said that when Akshay had asked his son about the king, he had no idea about who he was and that's when he started inquiring why "we never teach what we may call ‘Hindu history’". He added, "Now this is what he thinks, it isn’t my opinion nor is it the opinion of my producers. He expressed this opinion on a show, and so people started to think Samrat Prithviraj was a historical film. But he never said this was a historical film. People got his message mixed up.”

He further said that the 'number one misconception’ about his film is that it is a historical film. He said the film is based on the poem Prithviraj Raso, whose historical value has long been debated. He also said that he is unable to come to terms with the idea of the film being boycotted due to actor’s past behaviour like promoting paan masala and comments like people should not give Lord Shiva milk. He said these reasons do not make sense as they are not related to the movie. Many in the audiences also rejected the actor in the role but the director defended him, saying, "It’s not like you don’t have the right to reject an actor but he’s been working for 30 years so you know his capabilities. Akshay Kumar has done the role to the best of his potential. He is not the first actor whose performance the audience hasn’t liked but to boycott him for his acting as Prithviraj makes no sense."

He also talked about many people raising questions about why he didn't show the harassment by Ghori or rape of Sanyogita or the slaughter of cows and brahmins. He asked the audience where did they read about these events in poem Raso. "None of these events have been referred to in the poem. There’s a lot of misinformation on the internet…” he said.

Samrat Prithviraj is expected to be out on Amazon Prime Video on July 1. Meanwhile, Akshay Kumar is now gearing up for the release of Raksha Bandhan in August. The makers had recently released the trailer and is garnering positive reviews for the promo video.