Will NTR Rise to Prabhas, Allu Arjun’s Level After War 2?

Allu Arjun scored an unprecedented blockbuster with Pushpa 2. A Telugu film achieving such success on a pan-India level without the support of the Rajamouli brand is a massive achievement. The sequel factor, hype, and the success of the first part also played significant roles.

The film broke all records, from the highest first day and biggest first weekend to the highest first-week collections ever. It is on track to enter the 1000 crore worldwide gross collection mark within 10 days, making it the fastest to do so.

If there’s a film that can match the craze and euphoria of Pushpa 2, it’s WAR 2, starring Hrithik Roshan and Jr. NTR. The presence of these two huge superstars makes this film extremely hot in the trade.

So, will NTR become as huge as Prabhas or Allu Arjun after WAR 2? The answer is NO.

First, it is doubtful whether WAR 2 can match the madness of Pushpa 2 in the Hindi belts. The SPY Universe peaked with Pathaan, but since then, it has seen a downfall. The last film in the franchise, Tiger 3, was a disaster. The hype for the SPY Universe needs to be rebuilt from scratch, as audiences are now fed up with films focusing on India-Pakistan rivalry or friendship.

Moreover, even if WAR 2 achieves numbers close to Pushpa 2, the credit will be shared between Hrithik and NTR, and rightly so. NTR will get huge numbers from tier 2 and tier 3 centers in Telugu states, but overall, the success will be shared between both Hrithik and NTR.

In RRR, SS Rajamouli took away all the credit in the Hindi belts, and Devara was too mediocre a film to create a craze for NTR in the North. He was lucky—and must thank his stars—that the film didn’t flop and became a decent success.

Allu Arjun became a successful pan-India star on his own, and he deserves all the credit for achieving it solo. For NTR to reach that status, he needs to deliver a couple of huge pan-India grossers on his own in the coming years.