Reigning star Prabhas starrer 'Salaar' registered grand openings and drew attention across the world, but a top Telugu filmmaker tries to differentiate between two star-studded films, 'Animal' and 'Salaar.' "Prabhas proved his machismo, looked stunning in a brooding role, and single-handedly sustained the audience's interest. However, "there are few shortcomings too," he says. "While 'Animal' boasted of a strong love story and wonderful songs like 'Pehle Bhi Mai and 'Hua Main' along with merciless action to attract both, youth and masses. No doubt, Animal was ahead in blending action and romance perfectly," he added.
Although Prabhas and Ranbir Kapoor turned out to be one-man army in their respective films; Ranbir went in for varied makeovers and kept the audience glued to their seats. "Prabhas's character had no such variations, and he just had to convey the emotion of anger and pain. Whereas, Ranbir marries Rashmika and falls in love with Tripti Dimri and gets caught between the two besides turning vigilante for his father and expresses varied emotions," he says and adds, "Anil Kapoor, Bobby Deol, and Rashmika also performed well and sustained audience interest. Meanwhile, in 'Salaar,' Prabhas had no such luxury except for the highly-talented Prithviraj Sukumaran, but he had a limited role and remained passive and inactive. Even the casting of pretty actress Shruti Haasan was wasted since there was no on-screen chemistry between Prabhas and Shruti Haasan, and the film became just a high-octane entertainer," he points out.
Comparing the work of young directors Sandeep Vanga and Prashanth Neel, he says, "Sandeep scored over Prashanth this time by blending a vengeance story with loads of romance, while Prashanth just banked on machismo and terrific action blocks to run the show. While Sandeep designed multiple looks for Ranbir, and his transformation worked wonders, Prashanth retained one look of Prabha all through the film and wanted to mint money on Prabha's masculinity. A commercial film will become a record-breaking blockbuster only if it caters to the fans of respective stars and the general audience. Hence, Telugu director Sandeep outshined Kannada director Prashanth this season," he concludes.
