Rajamouli's Telugu flick shines bright as 'Rowdy Rathore'

If the production timing works out fine, if the commercial ingredients fall in place and the release schedule works out favourably, even an average film sails through. One such case, the 2006 release 'Vikramarkudu' made on a budget of Rs 11 crore and released with 180 prints, put the careers of its lead pair Ravi Teja and Anushka Shetty on the fast lane. It earned a total of Rs 26 crore and ran for 100 days in 54 centres, says the data on the Net.

Six years later, in 2012, when the film travelled across to the western India borders and got reprised as 'Rowdy Rathore' it had the south Indian brand stamped on it indelibly. Prabhu Deva, for whom this was the eighth film and the second successful one in Hindi used the superhero format of the original very effectively in Hindi too. Sanjay Leela Bhansali was the co- producer for this flick, a first for him.

Akshay Kumar satisfied his son's craving for him taking up action roles and paired with him was Sonakshi Sinha, who was a favourite of the middle-aged heroes, beginning from Salman Khan. The formula, which was a hazy reminder of many such identity mix-up characters seen in Indian cinema, was dusted up well enough to appeal for the nth time.

Catchy music, aggressive marketing and Akshay Kumar's BO status all worked wonders for the film as it released on June 1, 2012. A song was picked up from the Telugu original and it saw the Tamil hero Vijay shake a leg along with Prabhu Deva and Akshay. Such kinds of minor attractions peppered around also made the film's appeal heighten.

The budget for the Hindi version was four times more than the Telugu original at Rs 45 crore. The box office returns too were phenomenal as the collections crossed Rs 200 crore, a win-win for all involved. The critics gave it mixed reviews, yet at that time, it was considered the best hit venture for it being spread well by word-of-mouth publicity also.