Considered the biggest Telugu release of the year, The Raja Saab turned out to be its biggest box office disappointment. Made on an estimated budget of Rs 450 crore and promoted as a pan-India extravaganza, the film opened with over 5,000 screenings across the country. However, on its 15th day in theaters, its domestic collection stood at only Rs 143 crore. In stark contrast, Mana Shankara Vara Prasad Garu emerged as the only Sankranti success story. Made on a budget of 200 million rupees, with only 28 million rupees were spent on the production.and aimed squarely at the Telugu audience, the film went on to gross Rs 300 crore, proving that scale alone does not guarantee success.
Reflecting on this widening gap, Mana Shankara director Vara Prasad Garu offered a scathing critique of stars blindly chasing pan-India status, arguing that the industry urgently needs a course correction, one that balances ambition with rooted storytelling.
‘Pan-Indian stars must go back to making smaller films’
Speaking to Great Andhra, Ravipudi observed, “Of late, the pan-India market has become extremely large, with budgets running up to Rs 1,000-2,000 crore. Heroes now have global exposure, and that creates a dilemma when it comes to doing smaller films after appearing in a big pan-India project.”
He added that inflated budgets and rising visual standards further complicated decision-making. “With global films, budgets are higher, standards are raised and visuals become grander. With that mindset, people start to wonder if a hero who has worked on that scale will ever go back to doing smaller regional films. That uncertainty becomes a problem for everyone involved.”
Ravipudi believes the solution lies in balance. “If these stars take the risk of returning to smaller films and strike a balance doing both pan-Indian and regional cinema, the bubble around pan-Indian status will burst. The question is, who will burst it first?”
He also maintained that this balance could reactivate the health of the industry. “Right now, all the big stars release their films in January, followed by a drought of almost six months. This is forcing the closure of single-screen cinema halls. If stars start signing both types of films, one pan-India and one regional each year, the ecosystem will stabilize. The regional market has immense resilience.”
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“Don’t hold anything against them”
When asked if he would be willing to collaborate with stars from across India, Ravipudi clarified that he has no reservations. “I have nothing against them. I would love to work with them at the regional level. If they approach me and give me a place, I will adapt the story and execute it. Whoever takes the first step to balance pan-Indian and regional cinema will create a path for others.”
On whether he himself aspires to make a global film, Ravipudi was surprisingly candid. “I have no idea,” he said. “I’m very happy with my current success making films for Telugu audiences. I enjoy working within these boundaries. If my content goes global organically, that’s different, but I won’t plan for it. That approach rarely works.”
‘Raja Saab was supposed to be a smaller film’
Earlier, veteran filmmaker Thammareddy Bharadwaja echoed similar concerns while talking about the Raja Saab debacle. Speaking to SumanTV Vijayawada, he revealed that the film was originally conceived as a small project rooted in Telugu. “As far as I know, The Raja Saab was meant to be a simple, charming film that would connect with Telugu audiences. Director Maruthi was hired specifically for that purpose. I don’t understand why they didn’t stick to that original idea.”
He added that the film lost its identity once pan-India ambitions arose. “As the project progressed, they began reworking it as a pan-Indian film. Almost two years were spent on reshoots and changes, moving away from the original story. Whenever ‘pan-Indian’ elements are added forcefully, a film deviates from its purpose. Budgets are inflated, deadlines are stretched, and it rarely works in the filmmakers’ favor.”
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Highlighting the financial miscalculation, Bharadwaja noted, “The film still managed to gross around Rs 100 crore. If the budget had been restricted to Rs 100 crore, it would have been profitable. Today, filmmakers are so focused on scale that they have forgotten how to make memorable cinema.”
The contrast in box office performance further underlined the argument. On its 15th day (second Friday), The Raja Saab earned just Rs 22 lakh from nearly 400 shows, a sharp drop from its opening day of 5,000 shows. Meanwhile, Mana Shankara Vara Prasad Garu continued to stay strong, earning Rs 2.6 crore on its twelfth day from around 1,500 shows.