Promotional interviews often bring out the most passionate side of actors. In their enthusiasm to draw audiences to theatres, many end up making bold or exaggerated claims about their films. While such statements work when the movie delivers, they can backfire disastrously when it doesn’t.
Actor Priyadarshi recently found himself in that position after the failure of his film Mithra Mandali. During promotions, he made a confident declaration, expressing complete faith in the movie’s content. However, once the film hit theatres, it failed to connect with audiences and his statement quickly became a target of online trolling.
This isn’t the first time promotional hype has gone wrong in Telugu cinema. Vishwak Sen faced similar backlash when he claimed during Paagal promotions that his movie would “reopen theatres” after the pandemic. The film, however, was pulled from screens within its first week, and the actor’s remark became meme material.
On the other hand, Nani took a similar risk during Court promotions, stating that audiences need not watch his next film if they didn’t like Court. Fortunately for him, the movie turned out to be a hit, and his confidence paid off.
Priyadarshi, it seems, tried to replicate Nani’s approach, but Mithra Mandali’s box-office disaster turned his bold words into a lesson in humility. The episode once again highlights how overconfident promotional statements can easily turn into PR nightmares when films fail to meet expectations.
