By: Amit kumaR Agarwal
Rashmika Mandanna became synonymous with back to back 600+ crore BO bonanzas - Animal, Pushpa 2, Chhaava - in fact she is the only actor (male or female) in the Indian film industry to boast of three 600+ crore blockbusters.
It was natural then that Sikandar was seen as a film that will catapult Salman Khan from a career-low to a high with super block-buster. Perfect recipe, not quite!
The debacle of Sikandar is being blamed on many things, now a theory that has gained credence is that Rashmika Mandanna is a lucky charm - you don't kill the lucky charm with in 25% of your film!
To put this statement in context - Salman Khan, who is undergoing an all time low in his career - a phase trade-analysts parallel with the phase Salman saw very early in his career 1991 - 1994; needs a big blockbuster. His last blockbuster being Tiger Zinda Hai in 2017 - though Tiger 3 did well - but the business nowhere matched the hype of the YRF Spy Universe.
When Rashmika was cast in Sikandar, everyone was assured that the film in a worst case scenario will easily do 300cr nett in India - but now the film looks to be struggling to get even to 120cr nett mark in India.
Frankly, the writer feels that the film was marred by the usual suspects dogging the 99% of Indian films - screenplay and dialogues - while the dialogues in Sikandar were still clap-traps here and there - the screenplay was too illogical for any audience to be emotionally hooked into the actions of the protagonist, read, Salman Khan.
Trade is still optimistic that given the right role and script Salman will breathe fire into the box-office.