Prabhas and Anushka Shetty were established as larger than life stars after the massive success of Baahubali. The audience was left mesmerized by these two and was eager to see them in more path-breaking roles. However, the actors left the audience high and dry with their poor choice of films resulting in a string of flops.
The Rebel Star established a larger than life persona on-screen after Rajamouli’s magnum opus. He achieved a status that only megastars like Shah Rukh and Rajinikanth achieved among the audience. There were a lot of expectations riding on him, but his Bollywood debut Saaho was an underwhelming treat for his fans. The film tanked at the box office which was unexpected for a star who with his persona after Bahubali. This points out the fact that the audience is no longer blinded by the star and prefer better content.
The same can be a case with his next romantic flick Radhe Shyam alongside Pooja Hedge. The content made is so diverse now that the audience is tired of the same old formula romantic or action movies. Radhe Shyam has to be exceptionally unique in terms of content to impress the audience or else it will be another disappointment for the Rowdy fans. After this will be difficult for him to hold a similar fan following he enjoys now. So the choices he makes are crucial for his career.
Meanwhile, Anushka Shetty has time and won the audience’s heart of the audience with different genres but after the role of Devasena, the audience has higher expectations from her. She did impress the audience with Bhaagamathie but it was in the same genre. She did try to do something new with Nishabdum but it flopped. As the audience is preferring reality over fiction or films that depict a slice of life, fantasy, unless extraordinary like Baahubali, the audience is not impressed by it.
So the actors choose wiser scripts and try out new genres that are relevant to the audience currently, to maintain their star power while their career is going down the graph.