AR Murugadoss says his overconfidence led to Rajinikanth-starrer Darbar's failure

Director AR Murugadoss' last release at the box office was Rajinikanth-starrer Darbar in 2020. Darbar earned well at the box office but tanked critically, also incurring huge losses for the distributors. Three years later, AR Murugadoss has opened up about what went wrong with the film, also claiming some responsibility for the same.

AR Murugadoss' process for Darbar

AR Murugadoss, in a recent interview, opened up about his vision for Darbar. At the time, Rajinikanth had been planning to retire from acting to dedicate all his time to politics. AR Murugadoss admits to feeling the pressure of scoring a big hit with Rajinikanth. This pressure is what led him to hurry through the process. He also regretfully admitted to having grown overconfident at the time leading to miscalculations that cost him a unanimously successful film. He said, "With Darbar, what happened after a point is that I started believing that I know the process of writing and film making. I felt like I could do it quickly. I had this misunderstanding of my own self and grew overconfident". 

Why Murugadoss had to hurry?

AR Murugadoss was also very candid and honest about why he felt the need to hurry. He recalled how at the time Rajinikanth had provided dates for March and was all set to launch his political party in August. In a bid to avoid the rains and also make sure that the film happened with Rajinikanth in tow, Murugadoss decided to start work early in February which naturally set a hurried tone for the process.

Darbar featured Rajinikanth in the role of IPS Aaditya Arunachalam, who in pursuit of a drug peddler comes face to face with an international drug lord. The film also starred Nayanthara and Suniel Shetty. AR Murugadoss is yet to direct a film since Darbar, though he has played producer to upcoming Tamil film, August 16 1947.