Salman Khan‘s Sikandar turned out to be one of the biggest flops of 2025 despite grossing over Rs 100 crore in India and over Rs 200 crore globally. Made on a massive budget of Rs 200 crore and directed by AR Murugadoss of Ghajini fame, the film, received mixed to negative reviews from critics as well as masses. Many felt Salman’s ‘low-energy’ performance and overall weak script accounted to the film’s massive failure.
Nearly a year after the film failed to impress the audience, Rashmika Mandanna who starred opposite Salman, reflected on the reasons that could have lead to its commercial failure. According to the actress, the change in script during the making of the film, might be one of the reasons.
What Rashmika thought went wrong with Sikandar
“What happened later was very different, but when I heard the script, it was indeed quite a different script. But that generally happens with films. When you listen to something, it is one story that you have listened to. But over the making of the film, things change according to the performances, according to the edits, according to the time of the release. That’s very common. So, that happened with Sikandar,” she told Telugu journalist Premaa, as per an Indian Express report.
Salman plays Sanjay Rajkot, aka Sikandar, who’s a do-gooder at heart, while Rashmika Mandanna plays his wife. Certain turn of events in his life pushes Sikander into violence.
Salman vs Murugadoss blame-game
The film’s below-par performance also triggered a war-of-words between Salman and Murugadoss as the latter blamed the superstar for the film’s failure.
In a conversation with Valaipechu Voice, the ace director said it’s not easy to shoot with star, and hinted towards Salman Khan turning up late on sets.
Murugadoss also blamed the superstar culture prevalent in the Hindi film industry today. “It’s not easy to shoot with a star. Even day scenes, we have to shoot at night because he turns up on set only by 8 PM. We are used to shooting right from early mornings, but that’s not how things work there,” he told Valaipechu Voice during a movie promotion last year, according to Indian Express.
He also mentioned the language barrier that he faced while translating the script to Hindi.
“I can take up Telugu films, but Hindi may not work for us because after we write the script, they translate into English. Then it is again translated in Hindi. We can only guess what they are saying, but we are exactly not sure about what is happening,” he said.
“When you make film in an unknown language and place, it feels like you are handicapped. It is like you don’t have hands. I strongly believe our strength depends on where and which culture we come from.”
Salman Khan in an episode of Bigg Boss 18 clarified that the reason behind him reporting to sets late was due to an injury that he sustained while shooting for the film. He also mentioned that Murugadoss’ Madhraasi was a bigger flop despite Sivakarthikeyan turning up on the sets on time.