Uppalapati Venkata Suryanarayana Prabhas Raju, more popularly known as Prabhas, became a pan-India star after the blockbster success of two Baahubali films, which collectively grossed more than Rs 2400 crore at the box office worldwide. However, his three films after the SS Rajamouli's period epics have been major flops.
His 2019 release Saaho made on an expensive budget of Rs 350 crore earned Rs 310.60 crore net in India. Three years later, his romantic drama Radhe Shyam was a box office disaster as it earned Rs 104.40 crore net in India against its budget of Rs 300 crore. And earlier this year came Adipurush, which was the most expensive film in India with a budget of Rs 600 crore but could only manage Rs 288.15 crore net in India.
Now, ahead of its upcoming film Salaar Part 1: Ceasefire which releases worldwide on Decembr 22, the film's producer Vijay Kiragandur was asked if he is worried about the Tollywood star's recent flops. Vijay told Bollywood Hungama, "We don’t see one or two failures of a star as a reference. We take the success stories as a reference instead and make movies. We hope Salaar will become a blockbuster. His films might not have worked but look at the first-day figures. Nobody has got that kind of an opening in India that Prabhas sir’s movies get."
Salaar, which is bankrolled by Vijay Kiragandur's Hombale Films and directed by Prashanth Neel, will clash at the box office with Shah Rukh Khan and Rajkumar Hirani's emotional drama Dunki, and the Hollywood superhero film Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, both of which are set to release in India on December 21.
It's not the first time that Prashanth Neel and Shah Rukh Khan are clashing at the box office. In 2018, Shah Rukh and Aanand L Rai's romantic drama Zero released alongside Yash and Prashanth Neel's KGF Chapter 1 on December 21. The latter had emerged victorious back then since it grossed Rs 238 crore globally with a budget of Rs 80 crore, while the former couldn't recover its budget of Rs 200 crore and grossed Rs 178 crore worldwide.
READ | 'Even if we get more screens...': Salaar producer Vijay Kiragandur on Prabhas-starrer's 'ugly fights' with SRK's Dunki
