When Legends Stumble: Shankar- Mani disappoint

In the archetypal fractional of 2025, 3 of Indian cinema’s astir celebrated directors — Shankar, A.R. Murugadoss, and Mani Ratnam — faced uncommon setbacks astatine the container office, reminding the manufacture that adjacent titans tin falter.The Indian movie manufacture thrives connected its legends — directors whose names unsocial are capable to acceptable the currency registers ringing. In the past, filmmakers similar S. Shankar, A.R. Murugadoss, and Mani Ratnam person delivered iconic blockbusters, consistently redefining the cinematic acquisition for audiences crossed the country. But 2025 has proved to beryllium a twelvemonth of sobering realities for these stalwarts.Between ambitious projects that failed to link and stories that felt retired of interaction with changing assemblage expectations, the archetypal six months of this twelvemonth person seen these large names present amazingly underwhelming results.

Shankar’s Game Changer: A Grand Idea That Fell Flat

S. Shankar’s Game Changer, a governmental thriller starring Ram Charan and Kiara Advani, mounted connected a monolithic Rs 450 crore budget, the movie promised Shankar’s trademark spectacle with a socially applicable theme.The movie opened beardown with a ₹51 crore Day 1 collection, buoyed by Ram Charan’s prima powerfulness and instrumentality frenzy. But it rapidly mislaid steam, and wrong a week, the numbers plateaued alarmingly. By the extremity of its theatrical run, Game Changer had earned aroundRs 131 crore successful India — a fig acold beneath expectations, making it a commercialized letdown fixed its standard and cost.

Adding to the narrative, the film’s exertion Shameer Muhammed successful a caller interrogation with Kaumudy Movies, stated “I spent a twelvemonth with that film. I went determination for 3 years. It was successful the past six months that I was told I would person to enactment with them for different month. I had a sketch here, truthful I came astatine that time. When I was editing, the movie was 7–7.5 hours long. I made it 3 and a fractional hours. After that, a caller exertion came successful and shortened it to 2.5–3 hours.

”He besides revealed that it was Shankar’s deficiency of professionalism that led him to exit the film, “It was a unspeakable acquisition moving with Shankar for me. I went determination with large excitement, but things were happening successful immoderate different satellite there. He would hole 1 day for editing, but helium would crook up lone aft 10 days. The aforesaid signifier continued for respective days, and I ended up staying successful Chennai for 300–350 days.”

A.R. Murugadoss’ Sikandar: A Star-Studded Misfire

Next successful enactment was A.R. Murugadoss, who erstwhile made an earth-shattering Bollywood debut with Aamir Khan’s Ghajini successful 2008. His instrumentality to large standard Hindi entertainer with Salman Khan successful Sikandar was meant to beryllium a massy enactment entertainer that would reignite the director’s magic touch.However, Sikandar struggled to find its footing. Despite Salman’s formidable container bureau pull, the movie opened to lukewarm reviews and managed to cod conscionable astir Rs 110 crore successful its beingness — a humble fig by Salman’s standards and acold from the Rs 200-Rs 300 crore league his films typically purpose for.Critics and audiences alike pointed retired Sikandar’s dated plot, predictable tropes, and deficiency of freshness. In an manufacture progressively shifting towards nuanced narratives and new-age storytelling, Sikandar came crossed arsenic a relic of an epoch past.

Mani Ratnam’s Thug Life: Nostalgia Couldn’t Save This One

Perhaps the astir astonishing stumble came from Mani Ratnam. After the towering occurrence of his magnum opus Ponniyin Selvan: I & II, Ratnam reunited with longtime collaborator Kamal Haasan for Thug Life. Given their past and the hype surrounding the film’s ensemble formed and high-octane action, expectations were sky-high.The movie opened decently with a Rs 15.5 crore Day 1 postulation but struggled to sustain. By Day 9, its tally stood astatine conscionable Rs 44.75 crore successful India.

Factors contributing to its underperformance included an overly convoluted screenplay, erratic pacing, and a connection contention triggered by Kamal Haasan’s remarks connected Kannada, which led to the movie being barred from merchandise successful Karnataka — costing it respective crores successful imaginable earnings.Despite immoderate praise for its enactment choreography and Kamal’s presence, Thug Life failed to replicate the magic of Ratnam’s earlier works oregon Haasan’s container bureau propulsion .

What makes these underwhelming runs each the much notable is that they weren’t tiny experimental films but high-stakes ventures with marquee stars, monolithic accumulation budgets, and extended promotions. Yet, the results bespeak a sobering truth: audiences contiguous are unforgiving of hollow spectacles and request substance alongside scale.All 3 directors seemed to slope heavy connected prima power, elaborate acceptable pieces, and formulaic storytelling.

While these ingredients worked wonders a decennary ago, the post-pandemic Indian assemblage — with its vulnerability to divers OTT contented and planetary cinema — has grown much discerning.

If the archetypal fractional of 2025 has proved anything, it’s that adjacent the biggest names successful Indian cinema tin falter erstwhile they neglect to adapt. While these 3 directors person thing near to beryllium fixed their past glories, their caller missteps underline the value of evolving with assemblage tastes and storytelling trends.In an epoch wherever contented reigns supreme, specified spectacle and prima powerfulness nary longer warrant success. And arsenic past has shown, it’s often successful the look of setbacks that large filmmakers reinvent themselves.