Director Harish Shankar is currently busy wrapping up the post-production work of Ustaad Bhagat Singh, starring Pawan Kalyan. However, ahead of the film’s release, the director landed in a bit of controversy on social media.
The issue began when Harish Shankar unknowingly triggered Mahesh Babu’s fandom by replying “Thadasthu” to a tweet that indirectly mocked Mahesh Babu and his movie collections. The reply quickly went viral and did not go down well with Mahesh Babu fans, who started criticizing the director online. The situation created some tension around the film’s release, with a section of fans spreading negativity.
To clarify what exactly happened, Harish Shankar took to social media and shared a detailed note explaining the situation. He wrote, “Yesterday was a very busy day. I had a meeting with the board officials after the censor, visited Peddamma Temple to seek blessings, took care of post-production work, did the final checks for the song promo, and also completed a round of promotions before heading to Thaman’s studio for the background score.” He further explained that he was replying to several messages at the same time and unintentionally quoted a tweet without reading it fully.
“During this time, I was also replying to journalists, well-wishers, and fans who appreciated the promo and were sending their wishes. In that rush, I only partially read a tweet and quoted it unintentionally. Within a minute, my team alerted me and asked me to read the tweet completely. I immediately realized the mistake and deleted it,” he stated.
The director also made it clear that he has immense respect for Mahesh Babu and never intended to hurt him or his fans. “I have immense respect for Superstar Mahesh Babu garu. In fact, I have always believed that many records will be created under his name with Varanasi. This was an unintentional mistake with absolutely no intention to hurt him or his fans,” he wrote.
Harish also apologized if the incident hurt anyone’s feelings, saying, “However, if that brief moment caused any hurt to people’s feelings, I sincerely apologize from the bottom of my heart.” He added that he is well aware of the importance of fan support, especially when his film is releasing soon. “For a film to create records, it needs the love and support of fans from all heroes and families alike. I have enough common sense not to post such things when my film is releasing in just 10 days,” he mentioned.
Concluding his note, Harish Shankar once again apologized for the incident and requested everyone to support the film. With the clarification now out, it remains to be seen if the issue settles down soon and Ustaad Bhagat Singh receives support from fans of all heroes upon its release.
