In the early 2010s, Pawan Kalyan encountered a challenging period characterized by unsuccessful films such as Puli, Panjaa, and Teen Maar. His supporters felt dismayed as they witnessed their favorite actor grappling to achieve significant success. However, the release of Gabbar Singh, directed by Harish Shankar and based on Salman Khan’s Dabanng, changed the narrative. The film emerged as a tremendous blockbuster, signifying a remarkable resurgence for Pawan Kalyan and eliciting great happiness among his fans.
At present, Ravi Teja is experiencing a comparable predicament. Among his last 11 films, only Krack and Dhamaka have achieved success. He is now preparing to appear in Mr. Bachchan, directed by Harish Shankar, and in a remake of Ajay Devgn’s 2018 movie, Raid. Ravi Teja remains optimistic that Mr. Bachchan will serve as his equivalent to Gabbar Singh. Even for Harish Shankar, the success of this film is a big need. The director’s last movie came in 2019, and he has to hit the bull’s eye this time to prove his mettle as a filmmaker. Nevertheless, there are notable distinctions between the release timelines of Gabbar Singh and Mr. Bachchan.
Gabbar Singh was released just two years after the original Dabanng, at a time when the audience’s preferences mainly had stayed the same, and remakes were more widely accepted. In contrast, Mr. Bachchan’s release is coming six years after Raid. The audience’s tastes have evolved considerably during this period, and in the post-Covid era, remakes are less attractive due to the increasing popularity of OTT platforms. We have witnessed several failures in TFI, such as those of Bholaa Shankar, Godfather, Hunt, and others. It needs to be seen if Mr. Bachchan will recreate the success of Gabbar Singh or yield to the audience’s changing preferences.
