Rashmika Mandanna's SHOCKING confession on Sikandar's failure: "The script was different and...."

Months after Sikandar quietly slipped into the list of last year’s biggest box office letdowns, Rashmika Mandanna has finally spoken about what she believes went wrong. Instead of blaming bad timing or audience fatigue, the actor has pointed to a deeper issue: the story that reached theatres was very different from the one she originally signed.

Rashmika played Salman Khan’s wife in Sikandar, a character whose journey ends early in the film. What followed was a sharp shift into a full-blown revenge drama, with Salman’s character taking on the antagonist played by Sathyaraj. That sudden change in tone became one of the film’s most debated aspects and, according to Rashmika, may have hurt its overall impact.

“The Script I Heard Was Not the Same Film”

In a recent conversation with Telugu journalist Premaa, Rashmika shared that Sikandar went through major changes during production. She explained that the narration she heard at the start felt like a very different film altogether.

According to her, this kind of shift is not unusual in cinema. Scripts evolve with performances, edits, and even release plans. But in Sikandar’s case, the transformation was drastic. The emotional base she initially connected with slowly gave way to a more straightforward revenge plot, changing the soul of the film along the way.

Her role, though important to the story’s foundation, exited too early, leaving the narrative to move in a direction many viewers were not prepared for.

Box Office Numbers and Audience Response

Released during Eid and backed by Nadiadwala Grandson Entertainment, Sikandar had all the ingredients of a blockbuster. Yet, the film struggled to find its footing. With a reported budget of around Rs 200 crore, it managed to earn only about Rs 110 crore in India, making it one of the year’s biggest underperformers.

The uneven tone and narrative shift drew mixed reactions from audiences, many of whom felt the film lost emotional depth after its initial portions.

Director AR Murugadoss earlier addressed the failure by pointing at larger issues in Hindi cinema. He spoke about how language barriers and translation often weaken scripts and claimed that working with big stars comes with scheduling challenges.