'Thunivu' vs 'Varisu': Dil Raju breaks silence after receiving backlash
What's the story
Telugu producer Dil Raju recently received massive backlash for making controversial statements about the upcoming movies of Vijay and Ajith Kumar: Varisu and Thunivu.
The producer, who is bankrolling Varisu, reportedly compared the actors and said in a recent interview that Vijay is a bigger star than Ajith Kumar.
Now, he has issued an explanation saying that he had spoken highly of both actors.
Context
Why does this story matter?
A video clip of Raju making the aforementioned remarks went viral on social media.
Fans of AK did not take this lightly, and they took a dig at the filmmaker for making such statements.
Since both films are releasing around the same time, his speech was blown out of proportion.
This explanation by Raju has come at the right time to calm the storm.
Details
Here's what Raju said at recent event
Clearing the air regarding the whole issue, Raju said that he had spoken about the positive aspects of both Vijay and Ajith during his previous interview.
However, he added that a 15-second clip was taken from the 45-minute video by the netizens, which sabotaged the whole interview.
Raju's explanation came at a movie's promotional event in Hyderabad which he took part in recently.
Clash
'Varisu' and 'Thunivu' to clash on Pongal 2023
Varisu, led by Vijay and Rashmika Mandanna, is heading for release on January 12, while Thunivu, led by AK and Manju Warrier, will be released on January 11.
Thunivu is bankrolled by Boney Kapoor and is being distributed by Red Giant Movies in Tamil Nadu.
It is reported that the makers of Varisu held talks with Thunivu's distributors for equal shares in theaters.
More information
Songs of the movies were released recently
Varisu is a Tamil-Telugu bilingual drama, which will be released in Telugu as Varasudu. Its music is composed by S Thaman.
So far, the makers have released two songs from the film titled Ranjithame and Thee Thalapathy.
Thunivu has music by Ghibran, and the makers have released one song titled Chilla Chilla.
All three songs have turned out to be chartbusters.