Venkat Prabhu slams negative reviews of The GOAT: 'Critics reviewed it like a regular film...'

Filmmaker Venkat Prabhu has responded to the mixed reviews surrounding his latest movie, The Greatest of All Time (The GOAT), starring Thalapathy Vijay. While the film has received criticism for certain elements, Venkat defended his creative decisions, arguing that critics did not approach the movie with the perspective he had intended.

During a live discussion with fans on X, Venkat expressed his disappointment with how the film has been critiqued. "I feel that they have reviewed it like a regular film. But they didn’t review it from the angle of a commercial movie. They didn't take into account the specifics of this genre. Many question the songs or the references to old movies, but they talk very little about the core of the film," he said, emphasizing that the movie is meant to be viewed as a mass entertainer.

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One of the criticisms of The GOAT has been the number of cameos and references to other stars, but Venkat defended his choice to include these elements. "Many said that there are too many cameos in the movie. But that doesn't bother me. I wanted those elements in the movie," he explained. "You can't find references to other actors in a star film, except for The GOAT. I don’t think any other superstar would agree to this. If Vijay sir had asked me to remove them, I would have, but he was fully on board. We wanted this movie to be celebrated by fans of all-stars. I want fans of Rajini sir, Ajith sir, and Kamal sir to enjoy this movie. That’s why I included these little tributes."

Prabhu also expressed regret that critics focused more on the cameos rather than the core story and performances in the film. "Beyond the cameos, there is a big story and performance in this movie. It would have been nice if they had talked about that," he lamented.

One of the alternate versions Prabhu considered for The GOAT involved revealing the twist about the clone character much earlier in the film. However, this version was ultimately scrapped. "That version felt like a complete sci-fi movie, and we felt it would be too strange for our audience. When I pitched that version, Vijay Anna found it too confusing and advised me to stick to the original version," he recalled.

Despite the mixed reviews, The GOAT has performed remarkably well at the box office, largely due to Thalapathy Vijay's massive stardom. It is performing very well in Tamil Nadu, with its opening weekend gross crossing the coveted Rs 100 crore mark. The movie's global four-day collection is pegged at Rs 300 crore. 

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