"I have nothing but gratitude towards the story, YSR garu, and his millions of admirers and the audience," director Mahi V Raghav begins saying in his open letter to the audience after the release of 'Yatra' on Friday. The movie hit the screens worldwide in about 970 screens.

"For me, gratitude is the highest form of prayer and respect that can be shown. I bow to the unconditional love and support from the audience and YSR’s admirers. I bow to cinema, the medium that has given me the opportunity to tell a story; there is no other form of art through which I could have told my stories," he writes in a heartfelt letter.

He is not apologetic for allegedly making 'Yatra' as a propagandist piece of cinema. "I respect and accept criticism, but, I will not bow down and apologize for my actions or my beliefs. 'Yatra' will always be a story which I will be proud of. I set out to tell a story of YSR garu as I believed he deserved one and I did my best to tell one. This is my tribute to YSR garu, and calling him our leader would be too small for he symbolized generosity, humility, kindness, courage and trust," he signs off.