Post-pandemic, the southern film industries of Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, and Malayalam have significantly increased the scale of their productions, often surpassing Bollywood in terms of big-budget films.
However, this escalation also brings the risk of financial loss. Recently, a high-budget film from the south became the region’s largest box office failure, incurring losses over Rs 170 crore.
Prabhas’s 2022 romantic drama ‘Radhe Shyam’, co-starring Pooja Hegde, had a colossal budget of Rs 300 crore and was marketed as a pan-India film. Despite a broad release and substantial marketing, it grossly underperformed, earning just above Rs 125 crore worldwide. This resulted in a loss exceeding Rs 170 crore, heavily impacting the film’s producers.
‘Radhe Shyam’ faced criticism not just for its box office performance but also from critics who panned its length and disconnected narrative. The negative reviews sparked a backlash against the film and Prabhas, leading to distressing incidents like the reported suicide of a fan, Ravi Teja from Tilak Nagar, Andhra Pradesh, troubled by the trolling of his favorite star.
The film’s failure was further highlighted when ‘Sita Ramam’, another romantic drama released shortly after, received positive reception, being hailed as what ‘Radhe Shyam’ should have been. This contrast intensified the trolling, particularly aimed at ‘Radhe Shyam’s’ director Radha Krishna Kumar, who faced criticism from Prabhas’s fans for the film’s shortcomings. Following this, the director retreated from the public eye and has not released any new films since.
