‘Terrible experience working with him..’ ‘Game Changer’ editor on why he walked away from Shankar’s film

‘Game Changer’, starring Ram Charan and marking Kiara Advani’s big entry into Telugu cinema, didn’t exactly set the box office on fire. Now, months after the film’s underwhelming performance, editor Shameer Muhammed has opened up about his difficult experience working on the mega-budget project—and he didn’t hold back.

Speaking to Kaumudy Movies, Shameer revealed that what started with high hopes quickly turned into an exhausting and frustrating ride.

“I worked on the film for over a year,” he said.

“In fact, I was involved on and off for about three years. Towards the end, they asked me to stay on for one more month, but I already had other commitments.”

From 7 hours to just 2.5

Shameer shared that the film originally ran for a staggering 7 to 7.5 hours before he trimmed it down to about 3.5 hours. But that wasn’t the final version.

“After I did my cut, they brought in another editor who reduced it further to around 2.5 to 3 hours,” he added.

“It was a terrible experience”

According to Shameer, the real challenge wasn’t just the lengthy runtime—it was working with director Shankar. He recalled how Shankar would promise editing sessions and then vanish for days.

“He would fix a date, but not show up until 10 days later. That kept happening. I ended up stuck in Chennai for nearly a year,” he said.

What began as an exciting opportunity slowly turned into a frustrating waiting game. Eventually, Shameer decided to walk away from the film, and editor Ruben stepped in to take it forward.

"I didn’t want to miss bigger things"

Shameer also admitted that sticking with ‘Game Changer’ meant turning down other major offers, which he now sees as a close call.

“If I had passed on working with ‘ARM’ and ‘Marco’ for this film, it would’ve been a huge mistake,” he said.

Despite its massive Rs 450 crore budget, ‘Game Changer’ ended up earning just Rs 186.25 crore globally.