Underdog Syndrome: First Mahesh, Now Ram Charan

The 2025 Sankranti season in Tollywood once again set the stage for fierce competition, with several big-ticket films being released amid sky-high expectations.

Many of the early January releases struggled to make an impact at the box office, making way for the more anticipated films: Game Changer, Daaku Maharaaj, and Sankranthiki Vasthunam.

Game Changer, starring Ram Charan and directed by Shankar, had fans eagerly awaiting a massive hit following Charan’s success with RRR. However, the film failed spectacularly, delivering disastrous results despite its hefty budget.

Following that, Daaku Maharaaj, starring Nandamuri Balakrishna and directed by Bobby Kolli (K.S. Ravindra), managed partial success in Balakrishna’s career, though it didn’t quite set the box office on fire.

In stark contrast, Sankranthiki Vasthunam, starring Venkatesh and directed by Anil Ravipudi, turned out to be a massive hit, becoming the perfect family entertainer and raking in solid earnings at the box office.

This year’s Sankranti seemed to mirror the events of 2024, where Guntur Kaaram failed to live up to expectations, while HanuMan emerged as an unexpected blockbuster.

Similarly, Game Changer flopped badly, while Sankranthiki Vasthunam rose to massive success.

Much like last year, there were little to no expectations from HanuMan or Sankranthiki Vasthunam, with the assumption that Guntur Kaaram and Game Changer would dominate easily.

However, the underdog films ended up taking the lead, leaving a bitter Sankranti for Mahesh Babu in 2024 and Ram Charan in 2025.