Telugu cinema has so many stars, and everyone has a unique journey. Not all have consistently delivered hits and have seen rise and fall. But, some have seen more than usual and made a spectacular comeback when totally written off. Here we take a look at them.
3 Indra/Khaidi No 150
Megastar Chiranjeevi, in his entire career, had a downward trend during the mid-90. It forced him to take a year break. Chiranjeevi came back strongly with Hitler and continues the success. But, none managed to give the fans unanimous high of the early ’90s. And then disaster struck with Mrugaraju in 2001. It was a real low. He bounced back with a vengeance with 2002’s Indra.
Similarly, many doubts were raised about Megastar Chiranjeevi’s comeback Khaidi No 150. The long sabbatical, political debacle, a generational shift made people doubt the stardom. Chiranjeevi proved everyone wrong with a 100 Cr club smashing comeback.
2 Samarasimha Reddy/Simha
One can argue that Samarasimha Reddy is the greatest comeback for a star in Telugu cinema. Not many might be aware now, but Nandamuri Balakrishna was going through a disastrous phase commercially before SSR. He did have occasional successes, but they were few and far between. It affected his market big time. And then, Samara Simha Reddy happened, smashing all records and emerging an Industry Hit. A couple of years later, Narasimha Naidu was the icing on the cake and gave lifetime memories to the fans.
However, once again, post Narasimha Naidu Balakrishna failed to recreate such impactful success. Fans were desperate to see their favourite star give one glimpse of his peak stardom to the younger lot. Simha happened then and entered the coveted 30 Cr share club. Balakrishna was first among his generation and second overall after Mahesh Babu (among male stars) to get so. It shut up all the naysayers regarding Balakrishna’s box office prowess.
1 Gabbar Singh/Atharintiki Daredi
Pawan Kalyan’s Gabbar Singh comeback is the most recent and most visible and hence the number one slot. Gabbar Singh was Pawan Kalyan’s first movie after Kushi starting with a positive talk. He has had a hit a couple of average flicks in between, but this lack of ‘positive talk’ is what led to such hysterical reactions for Gabbar Singh. The reception literally brought tears in the eyes of the fans, highlighting how vital its success was to them. Atharintiki Daredi following Gabbar Singh was a double whammy what with the piracy, leak, and other issues happening at that time.
