After Baahubali’s enormous success, Prabhas – who had been a regional star till then – became a national hero. As a pan-India star, he was expected to take the country by storm. So naturally when he returned to the big screen for the first time since Baahubali in 2019, the expectations were high. The film was shot in three languages and starred several big names from Bollywood and Tollywood. Yet, nothing worked in its favour.
How Prabhas’ first outing after Baahubali fared
Saaho, directed by Sujeeth, was the film in question. The 2019 action thriller starred Prabhas alongside Shraddha Kapoor, Chunky Pandey, Jackie Shroff, Arun Vijay, and Neil Nitin Mukesh. Made on a bidget of Rs 350 crore, Saaho was one of the most expensive Indian films at the point. But despite the expectations, hype, and Prabhas’ star power, it bombed at the box office. As per trade reports, the film earned Rs 270 crore net (Rs 406 crore gross) worldwide, resulting in a loss of Rs 52 crore for the distributors. The producers fared better, managing to just about break even through TV rights and digital rights.
How Saaho flopped in three languages
Interestingly enough, Saaho was a hit in Hindi. The Hindi version earned Rs 146 crore net and was a success. But it was a disaster in Tamil and Malayalam where it earned Rs 10 crore and Rs 3 crore respectively. Even in Telugu, Prabhas’ own territory, the film flopped. After taking a massive Rs 60 crore opening, the film tanked in the opening week itself, ending with a disappointing lifetime figure of Rs 153 crore.
The reason for Saaho’s massive budget
Before Saaho, the most expensive Indian films had been the Baahubali series and Enthiran, movies tha required world building, large sets, and VFX. Saaho had none of that but it was still expensive. That is largely because of how much the film invested in building its large-scale action sequences and the remuneration of the cast. As per reports, Prabhas was paid Rs 100 crore for the film, which accounted for 30% of the budget. Then, the climactic chase sequence scene that spanned eight minutes cost the makers a whopping Rs 70 crore. All this and post-production took Saaho’s budget to Rs 350 crore, which was one of the major reasons why it was called a flop despite earning Rs 400 crore.
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