Director RJ Balaji is awaiting the release of Karuppu, his film with Suriya and Trisha, among others. With Karuppu being slated for a May 14 release in theatres, Balaji is busy giving promotional interviews. In some of these conversations, he reminisced about his past days as a radio jockey and as a film reviewer.

Speaking to Galatta Plus, RJ Balaji spoke highly of Atlee's gradual evolution as a director. The actor-filmmaker admitted that he once made fun of Atlee's Raja Rani. "The Atlee I saw back then and the one I am seeing now, after I entered filmmaking, is quite inspiring," he said. The Karuppu director commended Atlee's decision to hire GK Vishnu as a cinematographer for a Vijay film (Mersal), notwithstanding his lack of experience wielding the camera.

"The confidence that man has to select one newcomer for a Vijay sir film is extraordinary," Balaji said about Atlee and GK Vishnu. The actor-filmmaker also commended Atlee for his direction of Jawan, the latter's 2023 film with Shah Rukh Khan and Nayanthara, among others.

"The way he is pulling off a Shah Rukh Khan film... Shah Rukh Khan never had a 1000 crore film in his career until then... Forget the number, the kind of euphoria that film has created..."

The director also underscored Atlee's stocks raising enough to make him capable of directing an Allu Arjun film. "From strength to strength, he is doing this Allu Arjun film, Raaka. So to see Atley's journey from wherever he was... People now treat him a bit like Mani Ratnam sir."

Balaji attributed Atlee's achievements to his mental strength. Noting that the director faced plenty of trolls for his films, he said, "What is the end result? How much mental strength you need to pull off that end result. Imagine people constantly put you down, say all the mean, rude, and sometimes offensive stuff. But he took all of these in his stride and answered his critics with his work. Atlee has inspired me, I've admired his work and work ethic."