Superstar Mahesh Babu has held the title of ‘Undisputed King of US box office’ for so long. It seems that the star hero has ultimately lost it or is on the verge of losing it to Natural Star Nani, who has been on an unbelievable streak.
With ‘Ninnu Kori’ comfortably crossing the USD 1 Million mark, Nani now has 4 movies in this elite club (Eega, Bhale Bhale Magadovoyi and Nenu Local were first three). In comparison, Pawan Kalyan (3), Allu Arjun (3), Prabhas (2), Ram Charan (just 1) and Nagarjuna (2) are far behind him.
Nani has now equaled NTR who also has 4 (Baadshah, Temper, Nannaku Prematho and Janatha Garage). Mahesh still is at the top with 6 movies (Dookudu, SVSC, 1 Nenokkadine, Aagadu, Srimanthudu and Brahmotsavam) in million dollar club. Considering Nani’s pace and consistency, it won’t take long for him to surpass Mahesh in terms of million dollar films in US.
Now, if you are a distributor, who would you invest on? At least USD 2.5M should be shelled to grab the rights of Mahesh’s film and in case of a failure like Brahmotsavam, the damage will be huge. On the other hand, one can escape with minor losses even in the worst scenario with a Nani’s film. If a money spinner like BBM happens, the profits will be huge. Nani’s films have proved to be safe-to-profitable in USA.
US audiences seek freshness in films and they hardly bother about commercial formula, the success of Ninnu Kori is a fine example. Nani has understood their tastes and is serving what they need. It is not an overstatement to call him the ‘king of US box office’.
