Nag Ashwin recently posted on Instagram stories celebrating the success of his recent film, Kalki 2898 AD, which crossed the ₹1000 crore mark. In his post, he highlighted that the film achieved this milestone without featuring ‘gore’ or ‘obscenity’. However, he deleted the post when he realised that some people interpreted it as a dig against Sandeep Reddy Vanga’s Animal.

Nag Ashwin’s post

In his post, Nag shared a new poster of Prabhas as Karna in Kalki 2898 AD, and wrote, “This milestone…this number…is obviously massive for a young team like ours…but the fact that we achieved it without blood, gore, obscenity, provocative or exploitative content, means so much…a big thank you to the audience and the actors who stood behind us. Indian Cinema #repatikosam (for tomorrow).”

People split on post

While Nag could’ve just intended that Kalki 2898 AD did not follow commercial cinema tropes and still made good business at the box office, many believed he was taking a dig at Sandeep’s Animal.

One shared a screen grab of his Instagram stories on X (formerly Twitter), writing, “Budget is 4x times of Animal and have casting like Amitabh, Kamal Hassan, Deepika Padukone, Dulquer Salman etc etc and comparing yourself with Vanga who made blockbuster with just music screenplay and Ranbir Kapoor. @nagashwin7 enduku ayya comparison (why are you comparing).”

Another wrote, “Vanga @imvangasandeep. Genuine ga 930+ chesi kuda 1000Cr poster veskole.. He made Animal with 1/3rd of Kalki Budget..Mythology Character ni misrepresent chesi Huge Star Cast petti, boased no.s eskuni endukura @nagashwin7. Very Soon niku Thirigichesthadu. (Vanga did not even share a poster despite his film making more than ₹930 crore. He made Animal with 1/3rd of Kalki’s budget. He did not misrepresent mythological characters, have a huge star cast or misrepresent his numbers. He will soon pay in kind.)

However, some people came to Nag’s defense too, stating that it’s Sandeep’s fans who are misrepresenting Animal. One wrote, “If you think Nag Ashwin is taking a Dig at Sandeep Reddy Vanga then you're agreeing Animal is nothing without Obscenity and Provocative Content.” Another called out people for making negative memes on how Nag cast a ‘mass hero’ like Prabhas because he needed him to make his film work.

Prabhas’ fans don’t care

Some Prabhas fans, however, seemed to not care about it all, given that Prabhas has a good lineup of films. One shared a clip from the Malayalam film Premalu, which sees the lead dancing away, writing, “Now, Sandeep Vanga will make #Spirit with a vengeance to surpass #Kalki2898AD numbers. Nag Ashwin with malice will make #Kalki2 to surpass Spirit's numbers. Meanwhile, Prashanth Neel will be preparing Coal Factory sets for #Salaar2 to surpass both. Prabhas Fans.”

Another wrote, “#NagAshwin story pettindi thana movie lo avi lekunda 1000cr risk but achieved ani, verevalla movies lo unnay vallu worst ani cheppaledu, manolla plan yentante ilaa anindi yevarno kaadu ninne ani #Vanga ni tempt chesi #Spirit kasi tho thesela cheyyaalani stunts. (Nag Ashwin’s story was only about how his film achieved ₹1000 crore, not about criticising other films. People are doing it on purpose so Vanga puts all his focus on Spirit)”

Irrespective of it all, Nag and Sandeep seem to share a cordial relationship. Before Kalki 2898 AD’s release, Sandeep even shared the film’s trailer on X, claiming he ‘saw it three times’, telling Nag it’s ‘time to party’.