Jigra Box Office Debacle: Director Vasan Bala Deactivates X Account After Alia Bhatt Starrer Tanks

Jigra Box Office Debacle: The release of the Alia Bhatt starrer has been marred with controversies. From accusations of nepotism to plagiarism, the Jigra makers have been battling with several negative notions around the film. This was fuelled by a negative word of mouth and bad reviews of the movie which did not help the box office collections. In the 9-day theatrical run, the Vasan Bala directorial has raked in only ₹25.35 Crore in India. This and the incessant trolling seem to have driven the director to deviate his X (formerly Twitter) account.

Vasan Bala deactivates his X account  

Director Vasan Bala appears to have deactivated his X account amid a series of controversies surrounding his latest release Jigra. Starring Alia Bhatt and Vedang Raina and produced by Dharma Productions, the action thriller didn't perform well both commercially and critically after it was released on October 11 alongside Vicky Vidya Ka Woh Wala Video, a comedy starring Rajkummar Rao and Triptii Dimri. When one searches for Bala's profile with '@Vasan_Bala' as the handle name on X, a message stating "This account doesn't exist. Try searching for another" appears.

Just a day ago, the director -- also known for Mard Ko Dard Nahi Hota and Monica, O My Darling -- was actively sharing posts and replying to comments on X. Jigra has been embroiled in a series of controversies even before it hit the theatres. In a pre-release interview, Bala said he was "really not happy" when the producer forwarded the roughly drafted script of Jigra to Bhatt via email. Soon, the producer slammed the "gore misinterpretation" of Bala's comments, urging people to read entire interviews before making "click bait assumptions". There was also a claim of plagiarism against the film by actor Divya Khosla Kumar, who alleged that Jigra, a jailbreak drama, resembled the plot line of her last film Savi. Bijou Thaangjam, an actor hailing from Manipur , accused the casting team of Jigra for "unprofessional behaviour".

Vasan Bala reacts to the box office failure of Jigra 

In a recent interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Vasan Bala opened up about the reception of Jigra. Asserting that the underperformance came as a surprise, Bala shared, “The surprise was the failure because you obviously don’t set out to fail. Also, this was not a very stubborn, I-will-only-deliver-it-this-way kind of film. I thought it was a pretty accessible, straight-arrow film, and the emotions were universal.”

(With inputs from PTI)