Can southern stars keep up with their pan-India stardom?

Tollywood darling Prabhas became a household name across India when Baahubali: The Beginning released in 2015. The second instalment of the franchise was a massive hit, earning Prabhas the trademark of a pan-India star. But things haven’t really gone well for him post the Baahubali success. In fact, he is not clear on what sort of films he should be now doing.

A promo released by an OTT channel has Prabhas confiding to anchor/superstar Balakrishna that he was unsure about the films he should take up. Prabhas has delivered two big flops after Baahubali; their cumulative loss is ₹300 crore.

Saaho, directed by Sujeeth, and Radhe Shyam, directed by Radha Krishna Kumar, crashed. After the debacle of Saaho, Prabhas came under attack. Many attributed the Baahubali success to filmmaker SS Rajamouli. Sources say this has affected the superstar mentally.

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Prabhas is currently working on Salaar, directed by Prashant Neel of KGF fame. The actor is desperately hoping for another pan-India hit. The biggest challenge is his inability to give up his larger-than-life image.

Yash, Rishab Shetty face similar challenges

A Prabhas scenario is very much true for Rocking Star Yash and Divine Star Rishab Shetty too. Both the Kannada actors have established themselves at the pan-India level and are being extra cautious in choosing their next script.

Critics say it is a lot easier for Rishab as Kantara was content-oriented and his performance elevated the movie further. For Yash, his character Rocky Bhai was the biggest USP of the film. Rocky’s character, mannerism, style and dialogues added value to the overall canvas.

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Yash spent nearly seven years on the KGF franchise, and it has been nearly nine months since KGF Chapter 2 was released. He is yet to announce his next project. He has admitted to hearing a lot of scripts and trying to lock one. The pressure on the star is again his larger-than-life image in KGF.

Prabhas, Yash and Rishab Shetty are facing a major hurdle post their mega success. They want to maintain their stardom across the country and are finding it difficult to find the right script. It won’t be wrong to say that they are under immense pressure not to lose their new found stardom.

Repeating success is difficult

The Federal spoke to journalist and film critic Anupama Chopra about the success of the south Indian stars in the Hindi belt and the pressure to live up to the expectations of the previous films. She said: “Success whether at a pan-India level or within a state is difficult to repeat. It’s difficult to have lightning strike twice at the same place.

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“It is very tough for everyone who finds great success, and this is much more for pan-Indian stars. Once a star achieves success, he wants a similar trajectory. It makes the stars more ambitious. Pressure and success are good; it leads to being brave. Prabhas gave three years to shoot one film; that risk made him a pan-India star. I hope Prabhas, Rishab Shetty and others continue to be brave.”

While superstars are treading cautiously after initial success, fans want to see them on the big screen soon. But these actors are taking their own time to make up their mind. Senior journalist and film critic Sreedhar Pillai claims that it’s the audience who are making the actors to be extra careful about scripts.

Audience influence stars

Pillai says: “Times have changed post the pandemic. Commercial cinema doesn’t entirely work on star value. Thanks to social media, audience is aware of a lot of things. Filmmakers need to offer something new. KGF 2 spiralled Yash into a superstar but his image has become a millstone around his neck.

“Both Yash and Allu Arjun are smart. They realise they need a good subject more than just star power. They can draw the crowd with stardom but they are looking for content that can add value. Two of Prabhas’s films failed at the box office post-Baahubali. It was due to poor content. His stardom got the film a very good opening. But the movies could not sustain due to weak content.”

Prabhas, Yash and Rishab Shetty are not the first actors to make films at a pan-India level from the south. Kamal Haasan made films like Indian and backed it up by playing the role of a woman in Chachi 420. He shed his larger-than-life image and still succeeded. Why can’t other actors do the same?

Well, Pillai says new-age audiences have different expectations, and even Kamal has moved on with the times.