Amid speculation that Hanuman director Prasanth Varma took a veiled dig at actor Ranveer Singh via a cryptic post on his X account, stating “One day you realise every rejection was a blessing in disguise”, the director tells us that the post was “not targeted at anyone”. Varma and Singh were slated to work together on a film called Rakshas some time ago, but it fell through due to creative differences.

Clearing the air, Varma says, “It (what he wrote on X) was a generic feeling I had in the morning and I thought of posting it. I was thinking about the overall journey I’ve had. Had people not rejected me in my initial years, I wouldn’t have ended up making Hanuman. I was feeling grateful because had I done any of the films that I had previously pitched to other actors, Hanuman would have never happened.”

Shedding light on why he and Singh couldn’t work together, the 35-year-old notes, “There were different points of view with regards to the film. I really respect him for the actor he is. And I believe that even he respects my work.”

Ask if there’s any bad blood between the two, since Singh pulled out of a project that was officially announced, and Varma says they share a cordial bond: “We still talk to each other. It (the movie) just couldn’t happen, but our relationship has stayed.”