Hyderabad, Jun 13 (IANS): The team of 'Ante Sundaraniki', which stars Nani and Nazriya, held a gala event to mark the film's success.

On the occasion, director Vivek Athreya, who has been chastised for his lengthy screenplay despite a compelling tale, addressed the same issue.

'Ante Sundaraniki', which was released on June 10, is a heartwarming film with clean humour and emotions. But then, the movie clearly under-performed in terms of box office collections.

One of the major reasons quoted for that is the three hours long runtime. The first half especially is lengthy as per the reviews and also the feedback of the audience.

The director of the film, Vivek Athreya, refuses to accept that trimming some parts of the movie from the first half of the movie could have helped.

"When I could make a fast second half, I can make the first half similarly. But there are several connecting scenes between the first half and the second half. Those scenes have significance, particularly the childhood scenes. The film needs this runtime," Vivek Athreya said, at the success event for 'Ante Sundaraniki'.

While most of the scenes in the movie were quite relatable to youth and middle-aged audiences, only one section of Telugu media has found the run-time to be a problem, as per the movie team.