In the post-pandemic era, heroine-centric movies have been dwarfed by market forces. Their commercial standing has been severely dented.
Kajal Aggarwal-starrer 'Satyabhama' didn't do well at the box office. It might have done well on OTT, though.
Recently, Keerthy Suresh-starrer 'Raghu Thatha' was released in Tamil but not in Telugu. It is now directly heading to OTT, skipping a theatrical release in Telugu. The film must have struggled to find takers among distributors/producers in Telugu.
Anushka Shetty should have been doing at least one female-centric movie every couple of years, given her success with 'Bhaagamathie' before the pandemic. 'Nishabdham', the direct OTT release, was panned by the audience. After the pandemic, she has barely done a heroine-centric movie.
Samantha Ruth Prabhu's 'Shaakuntalam' was a disaster. While its content was pathetic, it didn't even register decent openings.
In this context, Rashmika Mandanna doing two female-centric movies (titled 'The Girlfriend' and 'Rainbow') is a big deal. One hopes the success of these two movies changes the game.
