Time has a strange way of turning the tables.
A few years ago, Mythri Movie Makers announced a film with Ravi Teja and Gopichand Malineni. But Ravi Teja was going through a difficult phase at the time, with back-to-back failures affecting his market. The makers reportedly felt that the market equations were not favourable enough and eventually decided to make the project with Sunny Deol.
That film became Jaat, with Sunny Deol reportedly receiving around Rs. 50 crores as remuneration. The film turned out to be just an average performer at the box office and nothing memorable.
Fast-forward to today, Ravi Teja is enjoying a phenomenal comeback with Irumudi. Interestingly, he chose to take the Nizam rights as his remuneration instead of a conventional acting fee. The film is now on course to cross Rs. 50 crores gross in Nizam alone.
The irony becomes even bigger because Irumudi is produced by the same Mythri banner.
While Jaat was made with Sunny Deol after Ravi Teja’s market was considered not viable, Ravi Teja is now delivering a dream theatrical run with Irumudi, which is expected to generate around twice the worldwide share that Sunny Deol managed with Jaat.
Mythri once moved on from Ravi Teja, but today, the same Ravi Teja has given the banner a genuine blockbuster with Irumudi. The film is getting organic love from audiences and recording some of the highest footfalls per theatre in recent times. It has also created genuine goodwill for the banner, something even several Tier-1 stars have struggled to do for them.
The actor who was once considered a risky market proposition has now become one of the biggest theatrical success stories of this year. As they say, time has a beautiful way of answering everything.
