Vishnu Vishal: 'Lal Salaam was my film, Rajinikanth sir was supposed to do only 25 minutes'

Vishnu Vishal is coming back to the big screen with writer-director Krishnakumar Ramakumar's romantic drama Oho Enthan Baby, co-starring Mithila Palkar. During a recent interview with Galata Plus as part of Oho Enthan Baby's promotions, the actor talked about the failure of his last film, 2024's Lal Salaam. Vishnu plays one of the two heroes in the film alongside Rajinikanth. However, in the interview, Vishnu said that it was designed as a single-hero film with him playing the main character and that Rajinikanth's role was supposed to last only "25 minutes" in the film. "That probably I think is where it diverted a little," said Vishnu, alluding to how the change from the original design of the film impacted its box office outcome. The actor also revealed that he was happy to see Rajinikanth's role getting bigger as the project evolved, while adding, "Unfortunately, it did not work for us."

Vishnu's views echo the sentiments of the film's director, Aishwarya Rajinikanth. Last year, Aishwarya revealed that his actor father's presence as Moideen Bhai led to commercial compromises that ultimately impacted the box office performance of Lal Salaam. She stated that Moideen Bhai was initially conceptualised as a character with 10 minutes of screen time, but with Rajinikanth joining the film, it became impossible to limit it to that.

The makers of Lal Salaam also promoted it as a film with an extended cameo by Rajinikanth—a move that seems to have backfired. The film also got plenty of attention as the footage for a major part of the movie was lost at the time of production. The makers later got back the lost footage, and the film finally released on Sun NXT in June this year.

Meanwhile, Vishnu is awaiting the July 11 release of Oho Enthan Baby.