Even though Samantha Ruth Prabhu’s Shaakuntalam was one of the most-awaited movies, it failed miserably at the box office. The film has reportedly earned only Rs 5 crore as of now. And therefore, it is now being said that the makers of the movie will have to incur huge losses.
As reported by Telugucinema.com, Shaakuntalam was made on a budget of around Rs 60 crore. Prior to its theatrical release, it was sold to a streaming giant for Rs 35 crore. The entertainment portal also claimed that the producer Dil Raju was asking for Rs 15 crore from satellite companies. However, he could not close the deal. As a result, both producers of Shaakuntalam, Dil Raju and Gunasekhar will now incur losses of more than Rs 20 crore together on this project.
What Went Wrong With The Shaakuntalam?
Written and directed by Gunasekhar, Shaakuntalam is a mythological drama based on folklore about Shaakuntala. Besides Samantha, it also starred Dev Mohan in the lead. News18 Showsha gave the film a 2-star rating and wrote, “Two things that failed in Shaakuntalam were the dialogues and the VFX. Having watched the film in Hindi, the dialogues were heavily bookish, leaving even people who have followed epics like Ramayana and Mahabharat on television a little confused. The film tried to go massive with the visuals but it was underwhelming. The film was in 3D but barring two to three scenes, the film did not need a 3D approach."
Meanwhile, Shaakuntalam’s failure at the box office also drew a strong reaction from veteran Telugu producer-director Chittibabu. In a recent interview with Filmy Looks, the producer slammed Samantha and claimed that the actress’ career as ‘star heroine’ is now over. He went on to say that Samantha is only using ‘cheap tactics’ to promote her movies.
