Magic doesn't work every time. Things never go smooth all the time. Cakewalks are not always possible.
The two parts of Bahubali shook the nation and pulled the interest of the Indian audience in every nook and corner. There is almost none in the nation who doesn't know Prabhas today. The fame and craze showered on him is beyond any limits. It is not an exaggeration to say that Prabha is the Number#1 Indian film star who is above all the top Bollywood stars today. Though such a position may not continue for years together, achieving that status at least for some time in the entire career is certainly a lifetime success.
Jr NTR who worked with Rajamouli three times earlier joined with him again for RRR, sharing the screen space with another top star Ram Charan, who also worked once with Rajamouli.
RRR is a pan-India film and the scope for national attention is very high on par with that of Bahubali. So, Jr NTR also might be expecting a National fame and subsequent journey on the lines of Prabhas. First he ignored Trivikram's project. He didn't even started Koratala's film though the RRR shoot was completed a few months ago. He might be anticipating to step into the Rs 100 Cr bracket like Prabhas and so wishing to start Koratala's project after the result of RRR.
Ram Charan looks not so attached to this dream as he has already tested his luck in Bollywood with Zanjeer in 2013 itself. That's why he took his time out in the shooting gap of RRR and worked for Acharya. He also started working for Shankar's project a long time back. He didn't completely glued himself to RRR for four consecutive years.
NTR is glued to RRR for four years which means that even if he does one or two films a year, he would have earned anywhere between Rs 120 Cr and Rs 240 Cr as per his minimum market price. But inside sources say that for RRR, he might have received a payment not more than Rs 40 Cr, as the total budget including all remunerations itself is Rs 450 Cr. That is financially a big loss.
On the other hand, the pandemic waves are keeping the release of RRR in the closet for longer times. Now there are no signs of the film's release for the next six months. No one knows how far this film in the British backdrop works on screen. The ambience is not new to the Indian audience. Anything lesser than Bahubali makes this film small because everything works in relativity here.
The bottom line is Jr NTR lost 4 years of prime time in the peak of his career. As of now, looking at him, it appears that working in Rajamouli's film as main lead is sometimes a punishment. We have to wish Jr NTR that RRR success should compensate him for the loss in another way.
But it should be understood that Prabhas worked as a National Star because of his personality and grace. Everybody vying for that proves to be a wrong step.