Director Selvaraghavan's magnum opus 'Aayirathil Oruvan' has come to the headlines over his controversial tweet in which he admitted that he lied about the movie's budget to portray it as a high budget movie. While the movie is been regarded as one of the cult classics in the Tamil cinema, Selvaraghavan's tweet had shocked his fans and stirred controversy through such a fashion of promoting the film. The movie was released in 2010 and his admission has come after a decade and after the announcement that he is going to direct its sequence - Aayirathil Oruvan 2.

By admitting that he had lied, the director added that he had learnt not to lie despite the odds. On Thursday, Selvaraghavan took to Twitter and wrote, "The actual budget of #aayirathiloruvan was 18 crores. But we decided to announce it as a 32 crore film to hype it as a mega-budget film. What stupidity! Even though the film managed to collect the actual budget it was regarded as average! Learnt not to lie whatever the odds are!". Aayirathil Oruvan was a historical fiction film bankrolled by Dream Valley Corporation and the movie revolves with mysterious and thrilling ingredients and features a dynasty fight between the Cholas and Pandiyas in the modern age. 

While Karthi starred in the lead role, Parthiban, Reema Sen, and Andrea Jeremiah had played important roles. According to a news agency, the budget of the movie had increased from Rs 7 crore to Rs 32 crore in the two years to decorate it as an adventure film. However, the film didn't run well across and beyond the borders and it was a flop. After years of release, the movie had garnered a significant reception as the sequel of the growth of social media and it had earned good attention towards the creation and storyline, and such attention was in fact one of the main factors why Selvaraghavan had decided to direct Aayirathil Oruvan 2. 

As per his tweet where he had revealed a lie about the budget to give a hype for the movie, he had acknowledged that the total budget of the movie is Rs 18 crore, through which it can be understood that the movie could have made it to the box office had they been an accurate mentioning of the budget. and the movie couldn't have flopped. Aayirathil Oruvan was also re-released in theatres in Tamil Nadu on December 31, 2020. It must be noted that earlier this year, Selvaraghavan and Dhanush had announced that the brothers would be reuniting for a movie and the fans speculate that their reunification would be for Aayirathil Oruvan 2. 

On the work front, Selvaraghavan is currently busy with acting and recently, he had joined the crew of 'Beast' starred by Vijay and director by Nelson Dilipkumar. It has been anticipated that Selvaraghavan would be one of the three antagonists against Vijay in the movie. On the other hand, Selvaraghavan has on Wednesday completed the shooting for his next movie 'Saani Kaayidham'. While the popular director plays the lead role in the movie, Keerthy Suresh will be playing the female lead and the movie is getting directed by Arun Matheswaran. 

The actual budget of #aayirathiloruvan was 18 crores. But we decided to announce it as a 32 crore film to hype it as a mega budget film. What stupidity! Even though the film managed to collect the actual budget it was regarded as average! Learnt not to lie whatever the odds are!

— selvaraghavan (@selvaraghavan) August 19, 2021