Tollywood’s magnum opus Baahubali has influenced a cream of film personalities not only in Telugu industry but also in neighboring film industries including Bollywood. One powerful Tamil star with huge home fan base also got attracted to the genre and gave a nod for a similar historic themed film named Puli. He is none other than Ilayathalapathy Vijay.
Despite Vijay having a stupendous fan base in Kollywood but in Telugu films, his market has however been meagre so far. Though Thupakki was a super hit in Tamil, it was an average grosser in Telugu dubbed version. With Kaththi’s Telugu dubbing version being postponed like forever, Vijay felt that Puli would be a golden chance for him to build a market in Telugu lands. He hoped that such similar folklore subject would fetch him fantastic returns overseas as well as in India.
But alas, when the D-day of film’s release occurred, he was stuck with issues. The film which was supposed to be releasing simultaneously experienced delays in Telugu version. By the time Telugu version was ready for release, the divided talk from Tamil version has spread virally. The Telugu version has been bought for Rs.6 crores and now with the film’s lukewarm response all over, recovering the investment is at stake.
But Shivam disappointing on the other hand might give an edge to Puli. Let's wait and see if the folklore entertainer can get lucky and pick up in the weekends. Fingers crossed!