Director Maruthi’s The Rajasaab is a timely return to home terrain for Prabhas
Magnum opuses are a blessing and a curse in an equal measure for an artiste. More so, for someone who has tasted success of ‘Baahubalian’ proportions and is under constant pressure to outdo themselves and deliver something bigger and gigantic with every outing. It was natural for Prabhas to feel the pinch after the Baahubali series.
Looking beyond binaries like success and failure, Prabhas’ choices have been unconventional or a star of his stature. He sensed potential in a one-film-old director Sujeeth and entrusted him with Saaho, a regionalised version of a French film Largo Winch, which had a gripping first hour but lost the plot while biting more than what it could chew. Its performance in Hindi was however promising.
His other films before Salaar – Adipurush, Radhe Shyam – indicated his courage to try beyond the obvious. If Adipurush was the reimagination of Ramayana as an action-adventure, Radhe Shyam was a tender romance through the lens of an astrologer protagonist. However, we all know how the films panned out and Prabhas’ appearance and performance weren’t received kindly either.
It took the KGF filmmaker Prashanth Neel to utilise Prabhas’ persona and image to perfection with Salaar. With a solid yet familiar premise, delectable action choreography and doing away with verbose dialogues, Salaar was a welcome relief for Prabhas and his fans. His upcoming releases in 2024 are Nag Ashwin’s futuristic tale Kalki 2898 AD and Maruthi’s horror comedy The Rajasaab.
While Kalki 2898 AD is set amidst a dystopian backdrop with a mythological connect, The Rajasaab promises to be a throwback to the good ol’ Prabhas we all loved in films like Bujjigadu, Darling and Mr Perfect. The latter is a horror comedy designed to celebrate the star’s strengths with humour, lazy elegance and with liberated body language.
The vibrant first look of The Rajasaab has an enthusiastic, bearded Prabhas donning a lungi. In a promotional event held this week, Maruthi has asserted that The Rajasaab is a film that Prabhas wants to do for his fans more than himself. The USP of the film is its entertainment quotient. After a series of heavy, dramatic, larger-than-life outings, this is a much-needed return to home terrain for the star.
Prabhas has two other projects that will go on floors soon – Spirit, directed by Animal, Kabir Singh fame filmmaker Sandeep Reddy Vanga and an untitled romance drama with Hanu Raghavapudi (who helmed Sita Ramam). The sun is finally shining bright for Prabhas and we couldn’t be any happier.
