Director Selvaraghavan admits to lying about production cost of Aayirathil Oruvan!

Director Selvaraghavan has let the cat out of the bag.

Yes, the director of several critically acclaimed Tamil films like 7G Rainbow Colony, Kaadhal Kondein, Thulluvadho Illamai, Pudhupettai and Mayakkam Enna, has confessed to hyping the budget of his Aayirathil Oruvan, which featured actors Karthi, Andrea Jeremiah and Reema Sen, for the sake of publicity.

Taking to Twitter, Selvaraghavan tweeted, “The actual budget of #aayirathiloruvan was 18 crores. But we decided to announce it as a 32 crore film to hype it as a mega budget film. What stupidity! Even though the film managed to collect the actual budget it was regarded as average! Learnt not to lie whatever the odds are!”

The film, which hit screens on Pongal in 2010, was billed a disaster soon after its release after its collections failed to match its hyped up production cost. However, with time, the audience did take a liking for the film and several people over the years have begun to term it to be average.

Selvaraghavan’s admission is significant as he is the first to admit that his team lied about production costs. To be fair to him, he wasn’t only one doing it.

Industry pundits and film journalists have always been aware of the exaggerated and inflated production costs producers often quote in their greed for publicity and in a bid to sell their films for a higher price. In fact, some of the producers, production houses, directors and actors do continue to hype up production costs for the sake of publicity even to this day. Some of the top stars too are guilty of the same crime.

Selvaraghavan’s confession is bound to act as a warning to film industry professionals. His confession is likely to make at least a few film producers, directors and actors be careful about citing correct numbers when it comes to production costs. At the same time, it is bound to make mediapersons and industry pundits take tall claims being made by film units with a pinch of salt.