It is not an easy journey for director Maruthi in Telugu cinema. He balanced his career by working with stars and he supported small-budget films. He penned scripts and co-produced films. Finally, he bagged an opportunity to work with a star actor like Prabhas which is a dream for many. But unfortunately, he could not utilize the opportunity and he failed completely as a director. What made more damage is the statements of Maruthi during the interviews, pre-release promotions and during the film’s release.

A hero’s stardom and his fanbase are always bigger when compared to directors and technicians. Maruthi’s words did not go well with Prabhas’ fans after Maruthi kept saying that it was Prabhas who personally took care of every aspect right from the script to the VFX work. This irked Prabhas’ fans bigtime and the result was seen after the film ended up as a disaster. Maruthi is brutally trolled, targeted and is blamed for his poor show. Maruthi also admitted of using a body double and this too did not go well with the fans. Bollywood actor Salman Khan and several top stars are habitual of using body doubles but no director admitted this before camera.

Maruthi casually revealed all these during interviews. Sounding over-confident, he also went on to give the address of his Hyderabad residence. Hundreds of food deliveries are knocking the house of Maruthi in Hyderabad everyday and Prabhas’ fans are the reason behind this. He asked Prabhas fans to come to his home if the film will not be successful. The latest allegation is that Maruthi’s team have misused the production budgets and this is the most discussed topic in Telugu cinema currently. Natti Kumar’s sensational comments are viral.

Maruthi should not have to start from a small film again and prove himself because of the damage done for him because of Maruthi. His words, statements and interviews are a lesson for Telugu film directors.