Kanguva effect: Suriya misses out on Karna

on Nov 23, 2024

Suriya has had a very long disaster run at the box office since Anjaan/Sikandar at the box office. He did get a respite with Rolex cameo in Vikram but he did not headline the movie. He did find huge critical acclaim and National Award recognition for his Soorarai Pottru and Jai Bhim films but both released on OTT platforms.

So, he hoped for Kanguva to be his huge comeback at the box office after a decade. He wanted the movie to be a Pan-India blockbuster like Baahubali. But the movie ended up being a troll material and there have been targeted negative reviews as well for the film. But it did not have the necessary effect for him at the box office.

This has effected his another big film in talks, Karna. Rakesh Omprakash Mehra, the director of films like Rang De Basanti and Bhaag Milkha Bhaag, wanted to make an epic based on Mahabharata warrior, Karna. He cast Suriya as Karna and Janhvi Kapoor as Draupadi. The film has been planned on a budget of Rs.400-500 crores in two parts.

Already the movie has been finding it difficult to attract financiers and now, it has been shelved post Kanguva disaster. Prabhas showcased that Mahabharata connections will still work with Kalki 2898 AD still, the financiers did not believe that Suriya has that huge market to recover Rs.400 crores budget it seems.

Had Kanguva been at least a hit film that recovers half amount of its reported budget and a big Rs.75-90 crores opener, Karna might have seen the day light, say trade experts from Bollywood.

Well, seems like Suriya can only hope for Rolex to revive his career completely as his next two films, Suriya44 and Suriya45 look to have more local Tamil flavor than universal content that can work Pan-India.