Aishwarya Rajinikanth shared this image. (courtesy: aishwaryarajini)
Aishwarya Rajinikanth's directorial Lal Salaam, featuring her actor-father Rajinikanth in a significant role, hit theatres on February 9. Although the movie initially garnered moderate attention, its box office performance gradually declined due to mixed reviews from both audiences and critics. Recently, Aishwarya Rajinikanth addressed the reception of Lal Salaam during an interview with Cinema Vikatan where she expressed how the dynamics of Lal Salaam shifted significantly after Rajinikanth's character expansion in the project. She shared that Rajinikanth's character Moideen Bhai was intended to have a brief appearance of 10 minutes. However, upon Rajinikanth's inclusion, the character's role was expanded, becoming pivotal to the storyline. Due to this, the film's screenplay, script, edit and content went "out of control." She said, "Lal Salaam's screenplay, script, edit, content, everything gone out of control after Rajinikanth came into the film. Seems like the addition of commercial elements, overshadowed the strong content. Also, the edit was reshuffled 2 days prior to release."
Aishwarya Rajinikanth also addressed the criticism and feedback Lal Salaam received, stating, "Personally, I am extremely satisfied as a learner and filmmaker. The film is based on true incidents and hence there is no revelation or twists as such in the film. So, when we had the option to do a linear or non-linear pattern, we went in for the latter since the story is straightforward and simple. As a filmmaker I understood that audience saw in a different way. I will take both criticism and appreciation equally and happy, I can better myself and that is biggest learning."
Lal Salaam premiered on February 9 alongside Lover, starring Manikandan. Despite the latter receiving a more favourable response, Rajinikanth's film faced tough competition from the Malayalam film Manjummel Boys, resulting in a swift decline in its box office performance.