Subhash K Jha (DNA; September 29, 2017)

Prolific filmmaker AR Murugadoss, whose cinema explores the anatomy of modern violence, is very happy with the way his new release, Spyder, has been received. Curiously, the film has opened better in Tamil than in Telugu market.

The softspoken Murugadoss explains why. “Mahesh Babu’s home audience expects a certain kind of heroism from him. In Spyder, he is not larger-than-life. So, it’s taking his fans in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana longer to accept him in as an understated, low-key heroism. Whereas in Tamil Nadu, the audience is more accepting of his scaled-down heroism.” Murugadoss is all set to make Spyder in Hindi. “The producers will finalise the deal in the next 10 days.” This may mark Mahesh Babu’s long-delayed Bollywood debut.