Prabhas has become a Pan India Star like no other from South Indian Cinema with Baahubali franchise. Kamal Haasan, Rajnikanth, Chiranjeevi, Nagarjuna did try their best to become such stars but their attempts met with mixed response.
Kamal Haasan's Ek Tujhe Ke Liye, the remake of Maro Charitra, the love saga by K. Balachander, directed by the original creator himself, became a huge blockbuster. SP Balasubramanyam's career as singer found new heights as Hindi language singer as well after this film.
Rajashri films decided to try his voice for Salman Khan post Ek Tujhe Ke Liye success and till 1998, SP Balu has been Salman's voice in the actor's films barring very few.
Kamal Haasan though did not have similar fate. Saagar film brought him awards. His Nayagan, Michael Madana Kama Raju, Pushpak, Apoorva Sahodargal/ Vichitra Sodarulu, Vikram became huge blockbusters in Tamil Nadu, other South Indian states as dubbed movies but Hindi market did not respond to these unique films similarly. Sagara Sangamam, Akali Rajyam did well in all South Indian languages but had very less impact in direct release in Hindi markets.
Lack of individual hit post Ek Tujhe Ke Liye could be the reason for these films failing to capture Hindi market. But Kamal Haasan's name as a performer grew beyond imagination.
His attempts to capture all markets at a time did not result in favourable results. In fact, in 1984, he did more Hindi films than Tamil films. After Saagar release in 1985, he did not repeat the same mistake.
Post Indian/Bharateeyudu success in all languages, he remade Avvai Shanmugi as Chachi 420 and it became a hit. He tried with Hey Ram, Aalavadhan/Abhay to deliver all languages hit on day and day out release but failed.
Rajnikanth in 1980's did direct Hindi films, in fact he is one of the hero of big multistarrer, Hum that had Amitabh Bachchan and Govinda among the cast. Chiranjeevi did Aaj Ka Goonda Raj, The Gentleman in Hindi. Both did not become huge hits.
Akkineni Nagarjuna had better experience in terms of capturing some kind of market with Shiva. The movie did give Ram Gopal Varma dream start in Telugu Cinema and Hindi. He took it next level with Rangeela.
But his films with Nagarjuna like Antham/Drohi and Govinda Govinda that had simultaneous releases in Hindi and Telugu markets did not recreate Shiva magic. Nagarjuna like Kamal and Rajnikanth tried his best to expand the popularity into market in Hindi with direct films. Except for Khuda Gawah with Amitabh Bachchan and Sri Devi, none worked at box office.
His Angaarey with Akshay Kumar failed. But the popularity that he enjoys in Hindi markets, helped his Hindi dubs of South Indian hits to get good Satellite deals. Now, his Meri Jung, Don No. 1 are most telecasted movies after Suryavamsam on Hindi movies channels.
This opened market for other South Indian cinema dubs as well. Looking at this popularity for South movies in Hindi Satellite, Baahubali team aimed at 15 - 20 crores Nett gross lifetime collections from theatres and better Satellite deal.
Karan Johar's name helped in getting attention of audiences and even though initial theatrical collections did not turn out to be huge, Baahubali became a crazy film on Satellite telecast paving way for better opening for the second film.
You all know how Baahubali 2 collected 1500 crores gross and is the Industry Hit in all languages. Pushpa and KGF Chapter 1 repeated Baahubali 1 feat at box office.
What happened to Prabhas Radhe Shyam then?
You witnessed the bump in popularity and craze a hero enjoys post Baahubali 2 kind of a success, that even legends mentioned above couldn't achieve. Saaho from Prabhas opened to next level crazy numbers all over India.
But that movie did not sustain the popularity in Satellite repeats. Movie collected more than 150 crores Nett gross lifetime in Hindi markets but failed to sustain public interest in Satellite repeats as TRPs were not encouraging enough.
Radhe Shyam makers could not promote the film as much as they did for Sahoo, as the music did not become huge hit. Only name of Prabhas cannot guarantee huge blockbuster opening.
Movie got 4.5 crores Nett gross opening due to his popularity and not because people wanted to watch Radhe Shyam. Even Superstar Khan's are unable to get record openings if their movies did not have elements that interest audiences.
Keeping all of this in mind, we can say one thing, for Prabhas to not repeat the previous stars mistakes, he needs to concentrate on scripts and execution as well. Let's hope Salaar, Adipurush and Project K along with better directors are also coming up with better content.
Kamal Haasan's Ek Tujhe Ke Liye, the remake of Maro Charitra, the love saga by K. Balachander, directed by the original creator himself, became a huge blockbuster. SP Balasubramanyam's career as singer found new heights as Hindi language singer as well after this film.
Rajashri films decided to try his voice for Salman Khan post Ek Tujhe Ke Liye success and till 1998, SP Balu has been Salman's voice in the actor's films barring very few.
Kamal Haasan though did not have similar fate. Saagar film brought him awards. His Nayagan, Michael Madana Kama Raju, Pushpak, Apoorva Sahodargal/ Vichitra Sodarulu, Vikram became huge blockbusters in Tamil Nadu, other South Indian states as dubbed movies but Hindi market did not respond to these unique films similarly. Sagara Sangamam, Akali Rajyam did well in all South Indian languages but had very less impact in direct release in Hindi markets.
Lack of individual hit post Ek Tujhe Ke Liye could be the reason for these films failing to capture Hindi market. But Kamal Haasan's name as a performer grew beyond imagination.
His attempts to capture all markets at a time did not result in favourable results. In fact, in 1984, he did more Hindi films than Tamil films. After Saagar release in 1985, he did not repeat the same mistake.
Post Indian/Bharateeyudu success in all languages, he remade Avvai Shanmugi as Chachi 420 and it became a hit. He tried with Hey Ram, Aalavadhan/Abhay to deliver all languages hit on day and day out release but failed.
Rajnikanth in 1980's did direct Hindi films, in fact he is one of the hero of big multistarrer, Hum that had Amitabh Bachchan and Govinda among the cast. Chiranjeevi did Aaj Ka Goonda Raj, The Gentleman in Hindi. Both did not become huge hits.
Akkineni Nagarjuna had better experience in terms of capturing some kind of market with Shiva. The movie did give Ram Gopal Varma dream start in Telugu Cinema and Hindi. He took it next level with Rangeela.
But his films with Nagarjuna like Antham/Drohi and Govinda Govinda that had simultaneous releases in Hindi and Telugu markets did not recreate Shiva magic. Nagarjuna like Kamal and Rajnikanth tried his best to expand the popularity into market in Hindi with direct films. Except for Khuda Gawah with Amitabh Bachchan and Sri Devi, none worked at box office.
His Angaarey with Akshay Kumar failed. But the popularity that he enjoys in Hindi markets, helped his Hindi dubs of South Indian hits to get good Satellite deals. Now, his Meri Jung, Don No. 1 are most telecasted movies after Suryavamsam on Hindi movies channels.
This opened market for other South Indian cinema dubs as well. Looking at this popularity for South movies in Hindi Satellite, Baahubali team aimed at 15 - 20 crores Nett gross lifetime collections from theatres and better Satellite deal.
Karan Johar's name helped in getting attention of audiences and even though initial theatrical collections did not turn out to be huge, Baahubali became a crazy film on Satellite telecast paving way for better opening for the second film.
You all know how Baahubali 2 collected 1500 crores gross and is the Industry Hit in all languages. Pushpa and KGF Chapter 1 repeated Baahubali 1 feat at box office.
What happened to Prabhas Radhe Shyam then?
You witnessed the bump in popularity and craze a hero enjoys post Baahubali 2 kind of a success, that even legends mentioned above couldn't achieve. Saaho from Prabhas opened to next level crazy numbers all over India.
But that movie did not sustain the popularity in Satellite repeats. Movie collected more than 150 crores Nett gross lifetime in Hindi markets but failed to sustain public interest in Satellite repeats as TRPs were not encouraging enough.
Radhe Shyam makers could not promote the film as much as they did for Sahoo, as the music did not become huge hit. Only name of Prabhas cannot guarantee huge blockbuster opening.
Movie got 4.5 crores Nett gross opening due to his popularity and not because people wanted to watch Radhe Shyam. Even Superstar Khan's are unable to get record openings if their movies did not have elements that interest audiences.
Keeping all of this in mind, we can say one thing, for Prabhas to not repeat the previous stars mistakes, he needs to concentrate on scripts and execution as well. Let's hope Salaar, Adipurush and Project K along with better directors are also coming up with better content.