Aishwarya Rajinikanth on criticism against Lal Salaam: ‘Rajinikanth overshadowed everything in the film’

Aishwarya Rajinikanth helmed Rajinikanth-starrer Lal Salaam.

Lal Salaam, directed by Aishwarya Rajinikanth and starring Rajinikanth in an extended cameo , turned out to be a damp squib.

The film failed to collect even Rs 20 crore at the box office, despite featuring Rajini, who recently set many records with Jailer. In a recent interview, director Aishwarya has opened up about the criticism faced by the film.

While Lal Salaam was marketed as a film with Rajinikanth in a cameo, the movie ended up being an out-and-out film about his character Moideen Bhai, which took away the focus from the story.

Talking about why she made Rajini’s character bigger than the initial plan, Aishwarya said, “At first, the character had only ten minutes of screen time, but when he (Rajinikanth) decided to come on board, we couldn’t just restrict him for ten minutes because of his image. And that is right as well.

So, it became a film set around Moideen Bhai. In the actual script, he comes only at the interval. But for commercial reasons, we had to bring it at the start of the movie, or else the audience would become restless. So, we had to edit it all in a way that he is throughout the film.”