Filmmaker Chandraprakash Dwivedi has finally reacted to audiences’ response towards his recent film Samrat Prithviraj. He told Film Companion, “When Akshay (Kumar, who played the lead role) sir had asked his son about Prithviraj Chauhan, he replied that he had no knowledge about who that was. That was Akshay’s trigger point, where he started inquiring why we never teach what we may call ‘Hindu history’. Now this is what he thinks; it isn’t my opinion nor is it the opinion of my producers. He expressed this opinion on a show, and so people started to think Samrat Prithviraj was a historical film. But he never said this was a historical film. People got his message mixed up.”

Dwivedi went on to add, “It’s not like you don’t have the right to reject an actor, but he’s been working for 30 years, so you know his capabilities. Akshay Kumar has done the role to the best of his potential. He is not the first actor whose performance the audience hasn’t liked, but to boycott him for his acting as Prithviraj makes no sense. Boycotting his film due to things he has done in the past, such as promoting paan masala or saying that one shouldn’t give Lord Shiva milk, makes no sense because these matters have nothing to do with the movie at all.”