How Prabhas plunged into a big career crisis

THE two blockbuster Baahubali movies turned Prabhas into the biggest pan-Indian star.

Instead of capitalising on that record-breaking success, the actor has made bad choices and struggled to meet sky-high expectations.

That is why a lot is riding on his new film Salaar. But despite the action entertainer looking like a sure fire winner, more bad decisions, including a recent colossal error, may ensure the movie doesn’t reach its potential. Before looking at that mistake, it’s important to see how Prabhas got to this crucial juncture.

His previous three movies collapsed after a strong opening weekend. It was plainly obvious that all were dud projects. His Baahubali follow-up Saaho was written and directed by Sujeeth, someone who should never have been allowed near such a mega-budget movie. His only previous experience was making a small 2014 romantic comedy, so why anyone including Prabhas thought he could handle a huge action entertainer remains a mystery. Instead of establishing him as the king of Indian cinema, it was declared a critical and commercial disaster due to the eye-wateringly high budget.

A poster of 'Salaar'

There was a similar story for his next film Radhe Shyam. Instead of opting to work with a big named filmmaker with a proven track record like Baahubali director SS Rajamouli, for some strange reason, Prabhas thought it would be good to team up with Radha Krishna Kumar on the huge budget romance, when his only previous directorial experience was with low budget 2015 action film Jil, which had got average reviews and was quickly forgotten. Not surprisingly, the 2022 film got a strong opening weekend thanks to the Prabhas name, but quickly collapsed under the weight of expectations.

Instead of going for a safe option and an experienced director with his next film, Prabhas chose the CGI generated Adipurush, helmed by Om Raut, who had only previously directed two films. With global audiences being exposed to phenomenal special effects in projects like the two Avatar movies, anything produced in India would look dated and that is exactly what happened. The movie was postponed due to the poor special effects and when it did release, they still weren’t good enough. It also got into trouble for hurting Hindu religious sentiments – a more experienced filmmaker wouldn’t have let that happen. These three movies haven’t been career ending due to the strong fan base Prabhas has.

Salaar, his new film seemed to be a much smarter choice and was supposed to get his career back on track. It is directed by ace filmmaker Prashanth Neel, who is riding high on the success of his two KGF movies, which have been blockbuster hits. This is his follow up to the record-breaking KGF: Chapter 2 and is in the same action space.

That combination of the popular genre and a filmmaker who knows what he is doing was supposed to serve Prabhas well. But the release strategy has been a total mess with multiple postponements. When it was pulled from release on September 28, rumours started swirling that it hadn’t turned out well and needed further editing. That leads us to where we are today with producers taking the ridiculous decision to now release it on December 22 and clashing directly with hotly anticipated Bollywood film Dunki. (It also releases weeks after Ranbir Kapoor starrer Animal, which looks like a sure-fire winner).

If there is one forthcoming Indian film to avoid, then it’s Dunki. It is the next Shah Rukh Khan starrer after his massive 2023 blockbuster hits Pathaan and Jawan. But more tellingly, it is the latest offering from Bollywood’s best filmmaker Raj Kumar Hirani, who has a 100 per cent success record and has broken multiple records. With Dunki expected to smash records and be this year’s best Indian film, Salaar releasing on the same day seems like suicide.

Although Prabhas has a huge fan base, he is more guaranteed of that much needed super hit his career needs if the movie gets a solo release, without any competition and especially not from a juggernaut like Dunki, which teams up Bollywood’s current king, with its best writer/director.

If Salaar fails, it will plunge Prabhas into the biggest crisis of his career and show how bad choices can bring down even the biggest stars.