Lokesh Kanagaraj opens up on the future of LCU, how ‘AA23’ happened and what criticism of ‘Coolie’ taught him

Ace director Lokesh Kanagaraj has spoken about the future of LCU, how ‘AA23’ happened, what criticisms on ‘Coolie’ taught him, exiting the much-awaited Rajinikanth-Kamal Haasan project and debuting as an actor in Arun Matheswaran’s ‘DC’

A lot has been spoken about ace filmmaker Lokesh Kanagaraj over the last year. Despite collecting more than ₹500 crores at the box office, his previous film, the Rajinikanth-starrer Coolie, drew a lot of flak from audiences and critics and was also subjected to online trolling. Further, there were speculations that the post-release criticism led to Lokesh being dropped from the much-awaited Rajinikanth-Kamal Haasan reunion film. It didn’t stop there; netizens came across reports stating that even Aamir Khan backed out of the previously announced superhero film helmed by Lokesh, a rumour that Aamir’s team soon clarified to be false.

The real curveball, however, came a few weeks ago. While the audiences were waiting to get an update from Lokesh on Kaithi 2 — his much-awaited Lokesh Cinematic Universe film starring Karthi, which has been in the talks after Lokesh’s previous LCU film Leo — it was announced that the director would team up with Telugu star Allu Arjun for an upcoming film tentatively titled AA23. All this fuelled speculations that Lokesh has dropped LCU altogether and that Kaithi 2 has been shelved due to a tiff between Lokesh and the makers.

Now, on Monday (January 26), a calm and composed Lokesh addressed the media in Chennai to put to rest many of these controversies. First and foremost, Lokesh thanked the audience for the reception his film Coolie got and said that he was grateful to know that the film ran well for 35 days and turned out to be a profitable venture for Sun Pictures despite all the criticism. “The criticism made me think a lot. I understood the kind of cinema and storytelling the audience wants from me. I take all of that as lessons, and I will try my best to ensure my upcoming films don’t get such criticisms,” he said.

Stating that he doesn’t take critical comments too personally, the star director said that it would be unfair to accept acclaim and reject criticism. “Coolie wasn’t my first film. Maanagaram was my first film. And I know how much appreciation I received in those nine years. So it’s unfair not to accept criticism. A film is for the consumption of the audience, and if they are criticising something, we need to accept it, right?”

Even if you were a passive social media user, what must have struck you is how emotionally invested Lokesh’s fandom has been throughout these difficult times. Even when they criticise him, it seems to come from a place of concern, and Lokesh said that he is grateful to have such fans. “For instance, if you have 10 friends, there might be one or two who point out your flaws. That doesn’t mean they aren’t your friends, no? My fan base is of that kind, and I am very happy about it,” he said.

Of the many things that worked against Coolie, the enormous pre-release buzz and sky-high expectations on the film’s box office performance certainly backfired big-time. While we have seen such cases before, the magnitude of it was such that even common people started wondering if stars and technicians drumming up their film during the pre-release interviews could have led to the same. Lokesh accepted that this was indeed the case.