The failure of Vijay Deverakonda-Ananya Panday’s ‘Liger’ was a well-executed plan. “Sabotage is the word,” says its South distributor Warangal Srinu who has had an array of hits like ‘Husharu’, ‘Kabali’, ‘smart Shankar’, ‘Gaddala Konda Ganesh’, ‘Naandhi’, ‘Krack’ amongst many others.
There have been reports floating that the leading South distributor Srinu has lost 100 crores in the last 12 months after his loss on ‘Liger’ is added. Denying that whopping figure, Srinu says, “No, I haven’t lost 100 crores in one year. But I have lost a lot of money, no doubt. As on Liger, I have lost something to the tune of 65 per cent of my investment.”
The confidence/overconfidence of Vijay Deverakonda during the promotional campaign hadn’t gone down well with many social media users. “I can’t say whether he was over-confident. But if he was, how does it yet pay to not go to a film which is not bad? Do we realise that in our quest of banning actors and filmmakers, based on preconceived notions, we are ruining poor families of poor crew members? The movies will decrease and lead to chaos in several families who depend on them for their daily meals. The movie industry is going through a very bad phase and social media users who are members of the unjustified ban culture that has come to dominate should be ignored. There seems to be a concerted campaign against us, almost every day. This is totally uncalled for. See the film and if you don’t like it, thrash it. But how can you thrash it before it has been released and you haven’t seen it?”
Srinu also says that Dil Raju (his arch-rival distributor in South) is never talked about for his failures but he (Srinu) seems to be the new target. “I suspect someone is trying to malign me, needlessly. There are camps even within the industry that work against each other. I was referred to as the man with a golden touch so far and now suddenly out of nowhere, baseless things are being written about me, without checking the facts.”
