Harish Shankar apologises to Mahesh Babu fans, 'Ustaad Bhagat Singh' director says he has immense respect for the 'Varanasi' actor

Director Harish Shankar, who is currently busy promoting his upcoming film 'Ustaad Bhagat Singh' starring Pawan Kalyan, recently found himself in the middle of a social media controversy. The issue began after the director replied to a post on X that indirectly mentioned Mahesh Babu's box office records. His short reply quickly went viral online, and some users felt the reply was intented towards Mahesh Babu’s film collections. Soon after the post started spreading on social media, fans of Mahesh Babu criticised the director.

Harish Shankar explains the misunderstanding

Following the reactions, Harish Shankar shared a clarification, explaining that the reply was posted unintentionally. According to him, he was handling several tasks and messages simultaneously and had only partially read the post before responding. The director said the day had been extremely busy because he was attending censor-related meetings, taking part in promotional activities, and working on the film’s post-production. He added that amidst this busy schedule, he quickly replied to a message without reading the full context, which led to the misunderstanding.

'Ustaad Bhagat Singh' director deletes tweet after an alert

Harish Shankar further said he was replying to many messages when the incident happened. While going through several notifications, he read only a part of the tweet and responded with the word “Thadasthu,” which means “let it happen.” Soon after posting it, his team informed him about the full content of the tweet. Aware that his words might be misinterpreted, he promptly removed his response. Unfortunately, the message had already been captured in screenshots and shared extensively online, prompting additional backlash from certain fans.

Harish Shankar apologizes to Mahesh Babu fans

Director Harish Shankar, who is currently busy promoting his upcoming film 'Ustaad Bhagat Singh' starring Pawan Kalyan, recently found himself in the middle of a social media controversy. The issue began after the director replied to a post on X that indirectly mentioned Mahesh Babu's box office records. His short reply quickly went viral online, and some users felt the reply was intented towards Mahesh Babu’s film collections. Soon after the post started spreading on social media, fans of Mahesh Babu criticised the director.Get the latest entertainment updates from the Times of India, along with the latest Hindi movies, upcoming Hindi movies in 2026 , and Telugu movies.”