Telugu film Saaho has been the talk of the town all over the country. Despite getting negative reviews and disappointing feedback, the film is having a good run in its first weekend. Keeping aside these box office numbers, it is surprising to notice that Saaho lacked the celebrity gaga that is quite common during big ticket releases.
Usually Tollywood celebrities endorse and promote all prestigious and big budget films. We have seen it happen numerous times in the past. But, that’s not happening for Saaho. All bigwigs of Tollywood are maintaining stoic silence over Saaho.But, why ? Prabhas maintains a good rapport with everyone in the industry and his down-to-earth attitude has always brought him closer to everyone around him. He has got many close friends among contemporary actors and directors. But, none of them have uttered a word about Saaho. Are they silent because Saaho doesn’t even deserve an iota of praise for its awful outcome on the big screen ? Or Are they jealous of the pan-India charisma and craze attained by Prabhas ? It is well known that the stardom of Prabhas transcended boundaries beyond Telugu states and made him a national star. He is getting an enviable reception among North audience. The impressive run of Saaho despite poor reviews is a testimony for his craze there.
On the other side, there is a wide opinion in industry circles that UV Creations is one of the reasons why the film received a lot of negativity from Bollywood circles. The producers of Saaho were over confident and didn’t associate with any big distributors in Bollywood. Due to this, a negative campaign is being run since the film’s release to dent its collections.
Meanwhile fans are furious over the embarrassing reviews and busy in promoting the film asking general audience to not believe in the negative campaign in social media and to go with open mind without much expectations. But, in real the heavy expectations were build up by Saaho team itself before the release. They compared the film with Hollywood movies during the promotional activities and also hiked the budget. In addition to this, the grand visuals in the trailers and teasers have furthered the expectations on the film. Even Prabhas appeared very confident on the output and praised Sujeeth to the sky for his directional abilities.
Amidst all this needless exaggerations, Saaho released and failed to impress fans and critics on its opening day. The lackluster storyline and the labyrinthine screenplay have turned out to be biggest howlers for the film. The high budget which was projected by the makers seems to be a travesty as the same story can be wrapped up with a minimal budget. With a better planning and toned-down promotions, Saaho might have easily lived up to the expectations and would have received a better verdict from audience.
Whatever may the reasons behind the debacle, Tollywood has learnt many lessons from Saaho which can be provide much needed guidance for upcoming big ticket films.
