Actor Vikram started as a side actor and grew from strength to strength to emerge as a star. Initially he did author backed roles in films like 'Sethu' ('Seshu' in Telugu) and 'Pithamagan' ('Shivaputrudu') and 'Kasi' ('Seenu Vasanthi Lakshmi' in Telugu) that earned him huge critical acclaim as an actor and simultaneously did films like 'Dhil' ('Sreeram' in Telugu), 'Dhool' ('Veede' in Telugu) and 'Saamy' ('Lakshmi Narasimha' in Telugu) that made him a huge star as well. We can also observe that almost all of his films were remade in Telugu which also highlighted his choice of films as an actor. All this culminated in the big budgeted Shankar flick 'Anniyan' ('Aparichitudu') which gave the actor his career’s biggest hit.
Post 'Aparichitudu' however things haven’t been same for Vikram. In his penchant to do variety the actor failed to get the story right ('Raavan', 'Nanna'). Even his turns as star ('Veedinthe', 'Shiva Thaandavam') were poor efforts and as a result he started loosing out both as an actor and as a star. With a string of such debacles Vikram is now being considered a box office poison. Once again at this crucial juncture Vikarm has got a Shankar film in his hand. But the situation is so poor that even with arguably India’s best commercial director on hand the buyers are hesitant to bag this movie at the price quoted.
Vikram’s next 'I' ('Manoharudu' in Telugu) is thus the most crucial film of his career. His entire future course is now dependent on the success of this film and as a result the actor is showing unbelievable commitment. Vikram plays the role of a boxer for few minutes and even for this role the actor has lost oodles of weight. He has taken it as a challenge to show his naysayer’s that he is still viable at the box office. But what he seems to be forgetting is the fact that it is directed by Shankar who most of the time, ends up hogging the limelight. If that is indeed the case can it benefit Vikram for his future projects? Can Vikram convince the trade of his viability with this project and become a darling of the trade again? All we can do now is to wait and see how things shape up further.