Director AR Murugadoss has taken responsibility for the disappointing performance of his recent film, Sikandar, starring Salman Khan. The movie, which was released on March 30, 2025, coinciding with Eid al-Fitr, failed to live up to the high expectations, becoming one of Salman Khan's least successful ventures in recent years.

Murugadoss, known for directing blockbusters like Ghajini and Holiday, initially attributed the film's poor reception to a potential language barrier. However, in a recent interview with Velaipechu Voice, he admitted that the primary issue was his own handling of the script.

He explained that the core story of Sikandar was deeply emotional, centered around a king who doesn't fully appreciate his wife. The director elaborated, "It's about a king who doesn't truly understand his wife. We are all like that — whether it's with our mother, friend, or wife, we often don't value relationships. Only when someone leaves us forever do we feel the weight of guilt". In the film, after the king loses his wife, her organs are donated to three different people, and he seeks them out to fulfill the things he couldn't do for her, ultimately befriending an entire village. Despite the emotional depth of the story, Murugadoss confessed, "The story was emotional, but I couldn't execute it well".

Murugadoss drew a comparison between Sikandar and his earlier success, Ghajini, to explain the difference in their outcomes. He stated, "I could pull off Ghajini because it was a remake, not an original script. I had already done it before, so I had complete command. With Sikandar, that wasn't the case". Ghajini, originally a Tamil film he directed in 2005, was remade in Hindi in 2008, starring Aamir Khan. The Hindi remake was a massive success, earning ₹194.10 crore worldwide.

Sikandar, produced on a budget of approximately ₹200 crore, managed to collect only ₹184.6 crore worldwide in 22 days. The film stars Salman Khan as Sanjay "Sikandar" Rajkot, Rashmika Mandanna as his wife, and features an ensemble cast including Kajal Aggarwal, Sharman Joshi, and Sathyaraj. The story follows Sikandar's journey to redeem his past by changing the lives of three people, motivated by a tragic accident, while also becoming the target of a vengeful politician.

Despite the film's failure, Murugadoss remains open to returning to Hindi cinema in the future. "I'm not saying I won't return to Hindi cinema; I definitely will if I find my comfort zone. But when the audience can't connect with my thinking, it affects me deeply," he said.

Sikandar was released across 5,000 screens in India and had a runtime of 2 hours and 20 minutes.