Samantha starrer Shakuntalam was made with huge budget as a mythological love story. The film managed to create some buzz before it's release. But, the film crashed after its first show on the first day. Samantha has recited a Bhagavadgeetha shloka, Karmanye vadhika raste, Ma phaleshu kadachana, Ma karma phala he tur bhuh, Ma te sangotsva karmani." The quote loosely translates to, “You have a right over your action and not its fruits"
But, Dil Raju is known for his straight talk. He openly discusses about his failures and mistakes. He opened up about Shaakuntalam failure too. He quoted that Shaakuntalam is the biggest loss in his 25 years of career. Speaking in an interview, Dil Raju said those words.
Dil Raju speaking about Shaakuntalam, " We have sent some normal audience to various theatres and got our reports. We came to know about the fate of the film. When a film is unable to draw audience to thetares on Monday and Tuesday, it is clear that the film hit the rock bottom. We shouldn't be in an illusion that it will pickup. We must accept it's failure by then. He also said that Shaakuntalam gave big jerk to his 25 years career.
Dil Raju opened up about Shaakuntalam's failure directly. He jointly produced the film along with Gunasekhar. He made huge investment banking on Samantha's craze and Gunasekhar's vision. Reports suggest he didn't even got half of his investment for Shaakuntalam.