Social media is abuzz with the news that Telugu superstar and legend Venkatesh has just signed a Hindi film. The film is touted to be his comeback film in Bollywood after 25 years. Salman Khan will play parallel lead with Venkatesh in the film, which is being produced by Sajid Nadiadwala. As soon as fans of Venkatesh heard the news of his Bollywood comeback, the first question that popped into their minds is – will a star of Venkatesh‘s stature get his due in the film?
Let’s look at the pros and cons of it.
The first and foremost aspect of the as-yet-untitled film is that Farhad Samji is directing the film. Pardon the plain-speak, but the director is not particularly known for directing intellectually stimulating films. In fact, Farhad Samji predominantly directs pulp films that dish out slapstick humour. Films like Housefull 3 and 4, Entertainment, and ALTBalaji shows Boo Sabki Phategi and Baby Come Naa, are some of the titles in his filmography. We don’t know about you, but we simply can’t visualise Venkatesh doing a film of Farhad Samji’s kind.
Secondly, the presence of Salman Khan is bound to overshadow every other actor in the film – Venkatesh included. Salman Khan is used to having the spotlight trained solely on him. Even if Venkatesh will play parallel lead with Salman Khan in the film, we fail to see how the film will do justice to the two undisputed kings of their own turf.
For those who don’t know, Venkatesh has been given the monicker ‘Victory’ for a reason. The actor has churned out hit after hit in his own Telugu film industry, making him an actor of considerable stardom and standing. In the lure of testing his fate in Bollywood again, Venkatesh mustn’t let it dilute his stardom, nor must he play second fiddle to Salman Khan. Though we very much doubt if he will be able to avoid the inevitable.
The film is being produced by Sajid Nadiadwala, a long-time collaborator of Salman Khan. Obviously, Nadiadwala will give prime importance to Salman Khan. Pooja Hegde is playing the lead opposite Salman Khan. There’s no female lead signed opposite Venkatesh yet.
We can only hope that beloved Telugu superstar Venkatesh is not reduced to a caricature in the purported action comedy film. Only time will tell his fate in his second innings in Bollywood. Keeping our fingers crossed!
We’re hiring!
We are hiring two full-time junior to mid-level writers with the option to work remotely. You need to work a 5-hour shift and be available to write. Interested candidates should email their sample articles to [email protected]. Applications without a sample article will not be considered.
