Ever since two big-budget flicks Rajinikanth’s Lingaa and Shankar’s I failed to meet audiences’ expectations, it has cast shadow on the upcoming big-budget Telugu films Baahubali and Rudhramadevi. Both Lingaa and I proved that high-budgets, high-end VFX alone could not save film and story, narration are equally important alongside picturesque visuals. Although the directorial prowess, expertise of filmmakers Rajamouli and Gunasekhar can’t be questioned, the fear of failure looms large when the expectations of audience and huge buzz surrounding the films are considered.
In addition, both Baahubali and Rudhramadevi are in making for a long time piling up the production costs, interests, definitely the budget of these two flicks shot up. However, the team Baahubali is playing it safe by releasing the film simultaneously in other languages whereas Rudhramadevi is coming in only Telugu and Tamil. This apart, both these two flicks are period films and this need to be seen how audiences receive.
“High-budget films are always big risk. If they work, they become blockbusters shattering previous BO records, but if they fail they tank without a trace. Films like Aagadu, Rajini’s Kochadaiiyaan and Anushka’s Varna say that all,” said a film historian and senior analyst. “But each film is different in its own way. One can’t exactly correlate the failure of a high-budget flick with other. At the same time, the affect of Lingaa and I on Baahubali, Rudhramadevi can’t be ruled out. Distributors might have few apprehensions as huge money is involved with,” he added.
Hope Baahubali and Rudhramadevi break this jinx and prove to be otherwise and restore hope among distributors and movie goers.