Though Nitesh Tiwari made the highest-grossing Indian film "Dangal," it is not yet known how successful he will be in handling mammoth budget films and the high-scale coordination of the biggest projects. He is now making "Ramayana" indeed in large scale. The result has to be waited and seen.
However, Rajamouli is the director known for handling such a feat in India ever since Baahubali and RRR. This most respected director is a motivation and inspiration for many young directors.
We know Rajamouli started his career humbly with Student No 1, and it took him more than a decade to emerge with Baahubali. He grew step by step, proving his mettle at every point.
But now we see new-age directors like Prashanth Neel, Sandeep Vanga and Nag Ashwin who have risen to great heights suddenly without much to speak about their past successes.
Sandeep Vanga, who made "Arjun Reddy" with a humble production, has made "Animal", which collected over Rs 900 crore. He is now making "Spirit" with Prabhas, bringing in even the Korean star Don Lee, thereby working towards expanding Prabhas' market even in Korea.
What Sandeep Vanga has made so far are of a similar genre—both Arjun Reddy and Animal.
But Nag Ashwin's case is different. Nobody believes it is the same director who made Mahanati and Kalki 2898 AD. Both are of completely different genres and scales. He proved his mettle by making both films blockbusters. This requires genius indeed.
Prashanth Neel is another director who proved himself successful by making films loaded with too many buildup shots and making every scene feel like an elevation scene. He is also a director who crossed the Rs 1000 crore mark.
Thus, by every means, Rajamouli now has many competitors around him. Rajamouli needs to do something very different and unimaginable to prove himself bigger than these young directors. If he comes up with something on expected lines with Mahesh Babu's film, there are chances that it may be looked down upon.
To scale up his track record and make the biggest hit of his career, Rajamouli might have to work on roping in big stars from all the international film industries—be it Korea, Japan, China, Hollywood, Europe and Africa.
He may have to work on expanding his market to the entire world. If he accomplishes this feat and scores a blockbuster, then Rajamouli becomes the biggest director in the world, standing just next to James Cameron, and Mahesh Babu beats all the Indian and international stars with his stardom.
We have to see what is written and how far Rajamouli takes his film with Mahesh Babu to the next unimaginable level. Because Indian cinema never imagined something on par with Baahubali before 2015. Rajamouli made it happen. So, it is believed that he may do something again to keep Indian cinema on the top of the world.
Usha Chowdhary