At the Hyderabad pre-release event of Suriya's Karuppu, titled Veerabadhrudu in Telugu, RJ Balaji made a remark that the film is not made for critics on social media. The particular clip of his speech is now being shared online, with a lot of netizens calling the actor-director out for the remark.

At the pre-release event, RJ Balaji first addressed comments on him playing the villain opposite Suriya. "When the trailer released in Tamil, people asked, 'Oh, RJ Balaji is the villain for Suriya?' Nobody is still able to buy it. I just wish to stay silent and let the film speak for itself. The trailer conveys the story which the film will portray. Apart from the trailer, the film has a lot of surprises," he explained.

Further, speaking about what to expect from the film, RJ Balaji said he didn't make it for people on social media. "You will like the film. I don't want to overpromise and under-deliver. It is a very entertaining mass masala film. I wanted to show Suriya sir the way we have always loved him, especially in films like Ayan and Singam. This film is made for people from Tamil Nadu, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. But it is not made for people on social media. This is for people who celebrate cinema in the darkness or magic of the craft. This is not for those who dissect and perform postmortems on cinema on social media." This was also said by actor Karthi, who attended the event to promote his brother's film.

Following his speech, netizens called the director out by questioning his choice of words. One user wrote, "Not a good choice of words. Could have stopped with saying, 'It's a mindless entertainer; don't look too deeply to decode and analyse.'" Another user penned, "Ironic since RJ Balaji is probably someone who’s always reading what fans are saying on social media."

Karuppu also stars Trisha Krishnan, Indrans, Natty Subramaniam, Swasika, Sshivada, Anagha Maaya Ravi, Supreeth Reddy, Yogi Babu, Mansoor Ali Khan, George Maryan, Aadukalam Naren, Namo Narayana, Deepa Shankar, Lollu Sabha Maaran and Jaffer Sadiq.

Sai Abhyankkar has composed music for Karuppu, his sophomore Tamil project. The crew of the film includes cinematographer GK Vishnu, editor R Kalaivanan, production designer Arun Venjaramoodu, and stunt choreographers Anbariv and Vikram Mor.

Karuppu is produced by SR Prakash Babu and SR Prabu under their Dream Warrior Pictures banner. Aravendaraj Baskaran is serving as the executive producer on the film. The film will open in theatres on May 14.