Mumbai, India – Filmmaker AR Murugadoss has finally addressed the underwhelming box office performance of his latest Hindi directorial, Sikandar, starring Salman Khan. The film, which was Salman Khan’s first Eid release in two years, hit theaters on March 30, 2025, but failed to resonate with critics and audiences alike, despite crossing the ₹100 crore mark domestically and ₹200 crore worldwide.
Speaking during the promotions for his upcoming project, Madharaasi, Murugadoss attributed Sikandar‘s failure to his “inability to understand Hindi” and the nuances of the Hindi-speaking audience.
“When we make films in our mother tongue, it gives us strength. We know what is happening here,” Murugadoss stated. “Today there’s a trend going and suddenly the audience gets connected with that trend. When we shift language, we don’t know what the youngsters are enjoying in that language. All we need is a script to believe it.”
He elaborated on the challenges of working in an unfamiliar language, explaining the translation process from script to screen: “For once, 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.”
Murugadoss candidly admitted feeling “handicapped” when directing in a language and culture he doesn’t fully grasp. “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 the culture we belong to.”
Sikandar tells the story of Sanjay Rajkot, a man who confronts a corrupt politician, upending his life. The action drama also featured Rashmika Mandanna, Kajal Aggarwal, Sharman Joshi, Prateik Babbar, and Sathyaraj in key roles. Despite the star power and Eid release slot, a traditionally successful period for Salman Khan films, Sikandar was deemed an underperformer and was also panned upon its Netflix release in May.
This marks a rare setback for Murugadoss in Hindi cinema, having previously delivered successful remakes like Aamir Khan’s Ghajini (2008) and Akshay Kumar’s Holiday: A Soldier Is Never Off Duty (2014).