Kanguva, Devara, HHVM, Kingdom: Now Raja Saab?

The Raja Saab, starring Prabhas and directed by Maruthi, released in theatres on January 9th as a Sankranti special. The film opened to mixed responses from both audiences and critics.

The negative word of mouth affected collections quickly. After a weak first weekend, the film crashed at the box office and ended as a major loss venture for the makers.

The Raja Saab concluded with a clear lead for a sequel. During promotions, Maruthi stated that he already had a storyline for the second part. However, following the film’s poor reception, the sequel is now widely believed to be shelved.

In recent years, many South Indian films have ended with cliffhangers teasing a Part 2. When the first parts failed commercially, those sequels never moved forward. The Raja Saab has now joined that growing list.

According to netizens, Kanguva was the earliest example. The film ended with a Part 2 lead and featured a cameo by Karthi. Due to heavy losses, the makers dropped plans for Kanguva 2.

Following that, Devara starring NTR also had a cliffhanger ending. Poor reviews resulted in Devara 2 being shelved soon after.

Later, films such as Skanda starring Ram Pothineni, Hari Hara Veera Mallu featuring Pawan Kalyan, Mangalavaaram led by Payal Rajput, and Kingdom starring Vijay Deverakonda faced similar outcomes. All planned sequels were quietly dropped after the original films failed.

Many viewers feel these films were never genuinely planned as franchises. The cliffhangers were added mainly to create hype or due to weak climax writing.

Some believe shelving the sequels was the right decision. Continuing with failed franchises could have caused even greater financial losses.

As of now, there is no official confirmation regarding The Raja Saab sequel. It remains uncertain whether the project will stay shelved or return in the future with a surprise announcement.