Happy Birthday NTR Jr: After RRR’s Oscar win, the actor is set to win over India with his choices

Trade analysts are putting their faith in the actor’s choices and with Devara and War 2, clearly producers are also betting their money on the actor.

Trade analyst from Chennai, Sreedhar Pillai tells the indianexpress.com, “I think he will only go higher because his next film Devara is going to be huge. It’s got the best technicians. Saif is also doing a very important role in the film. Definitely he is making the right moves at the right time. He features amongst top 5 stars in South India.”

On Saturday, Taraka’s 2003 Telugu blockbuster Simhadri, directed by SS Rajamouli, is again releasing in theatre but this time in Hindi, showing the proof of recognition he is now getting in the Hindi belt. Sreedhar asserts, “Jr NTR as we know is one of the biggest superstars down South, especially after the phenomenal success of Rajamouli’s RRR and the way he campaigned for the movie for the Oscar. It has given his image an all-new look. He is also growing into northern belt. Simhadari is getting dubbed and I am sure there is a huge audience for him in the Hindi heartland.”

NTR Jr’s Simhadri co-star Bhumika Chawla is elated their film is re-releasing and in Hindi and says that her co-star has come a long way. Sharing her experience of working with the actor she says, “It’s such a wonderful and blessed feeling to see your film re-release . Working with Junior NTR was a wonderful experience. He has come a long way and made the country and all of us proud with being at the Oscars with RRR.”

She adds, “When we shot for Simhadri we both were very young and I see the hard work he’s always put in everything he does. I loved shooting fir the interval block scene – it was very special and very different for a commercial film . Rajamouli sir was excellent to work with as a director. I wish Tarak a very happy birthday and may he always be blessed with love and happiness.”

It is not just the actor’s worth in cinema that is going up, his face value as a brand too is seems to be aiming higher. After the release of RRR, two more endorsements of brands like Appy and Licious have been added to the actor’s brand value.

Trade analyst Taran Adarsh adds to this that that Taraka’s brand value is not the only thing that is on an all-time high. “At the moment we don’t know what the cost of both the films (Devara and War 2) are but he falls into the A category bracket, so it will have enormous budget for sure. Post RRR his brand value has gone to an all-time high. He is a fine actor. He is coming in two very big projects so, the curiosity to watch him onscreen is at an all time high,” says Taran.

Taraka’s upcoming film Devara, which marks the Tollywood debut of Janhavi Kapoor and seasoned star Saif Ali Khan, is expected to be made on a budget over Rs 200 crore and while that is the kind of faith being put in his name, trade analyst Ramesh Bala says that the expectations of returns are going to be higher from him now.

“Jr NTR after after RRR has become a pan-India and partially a global star. So, his movies will be dubbed in Tamil, Hindi, apart from Telugu and he has a good market in Karnataka. If the budget (of Devara) is speculated to be Rs 300 to Rs 400 crore, they will expect at least 400 to 500 crore with good return in the profit margin,” says Ramesh.

He adds, “Unless a big hero is doing a film with Rajamouli or Shankar who also have their own potential as a director, 80 percent of the film’s success or failure will be pegged on the actor and they do the heavy lifting.”

Taran adds an important note to the actor’s career graph post RRR and says, “When you set those benchmarks, the business point of view also comes in but I think first the important thing is that he needs to deliver a big hit. Where this goes beyond that is besides the point.”