It is true that films with Sanathana Dharma elements have been rocking the box office for quite a long time. Be it Kantara Chapter 1 or Mirai or Hanuman all made a big sound at the box office.
Even Laalo–Krishna Sada Sahayate a Gujarati film also made historical waves at the Gujarati box office becoming the first Rs 100+ crore film in the region.
Let us look into the fate of Akhanda 2 now.
The first installment of Akhanda was a success. It is true that the film was also dubbed into Hindi and many North Indian audiences watched it on TV. So obviously many hopes were pinned on its sequel as well as the pan-India appeal of Balakrishna.
However Akhanda 2 failed miserably in the North with no audience in theatres. Despite huge promotions in Mumbai and also interviews given to Hindi media things didn’t work at all.
When people were asked to know what actually went wrong we got several opinions and here are a few:
“Boyapati shows Balakrishna in the character of Akhanda. That’s the problem. He never knows how to show Akhanda in Balakrishna. That’s the reason the audience is not connecting to the film. Regular audiences expected to see full dose Sanathana Dharma fervor in the film but not the Jajikaya dance and Samyukta’s exposing which is a letdown. Balayya fans may like it but they are a very small number compared to the fans of Sanathana Dharma” said a distributor.
“Balakrishna put in sincere effort to hold the weakly written story together and delivered strong initial openings. Still even a section of Nandamuri fans felt let down by the dull and uninspiring narrative” said a distributor who felt the director must take most of the responsibility.
Trade circles point out that the illogical narration and over-the-top action episodes invited criticism from many sides.
The film also fared badly beyond the Telugu states recording poor collections in North India, Kerala, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu where it is said to have earned only about Rs 80 lakh which is an extremely underwhelming result for a project made on such a large scale.
“The director’s excessive confidence and clear disconnect with the tastes of the new-generation audience appear to have worked against the film” observed another trade analyst.
“In Kantara Chapter 1 a layman kills the emperor getting possessed by the divine element. That’s made sincerely without over-elevations of Rishab Shetty. We see only the character in him not the actor. That’s the beauty. Same is the case with Teja Sajja in Mirai and Hanuman where he is either a vulnerable human or a normal human but not a supernatural element. If the hero gets supernatural powers the power of God will not be known. That’s the fundamental mistake committed by Boyapati” said a senior film writer.
Not stopping at Boyapati many are even criticising Gangadhara Sastry for his overboard promotions lacking balance.
“He says Balakrishna should be called Balakrishna Swamy from now onwards. He also says youngsters should touch Balakrishna's feet for acting in this film. His attempt looks more like sycophancy toward Balakrishna than Sanathana Dharma. We went to watch the film initially only because of his campaign but we lost impression on Gangadhara Sastry for publicising this kind of loud and nonsensical film where the Indian Army, PM and everybody are shown useless. This is not an intelligently made film. Even my grandchildren didn’t get any Sanathana Dharma vibes but simply laughed at Balakrishna’s loudness” said a learned retired professor who watched the film with his family.
“If Gangadhara Sastry praises the Akhanda role, he should have commented also on the Jajikaya song and second Balakrishna’s role as an MLA. He drinks with a woman and is that Sanathana Dharma. Why should Gangadhara Sastry do overaction promoting this film. He should have promoted films like Laalo–Krishna Sada Sahayate to reach local audiences if he is really Sanathana. He wants Balakrishna’s blessings that’s all and that is the reason for this flattery” said a popular film producer off the record.
“I don’t understand why they kept Samyukta’s exposing and the Jajikaya song in this Sanathana film. Well there are no such things in Kantara or Hanuman or Mirai. In Mirai they removed the 'vibe undile...' song as they felt it would affect the sanctity of the film. But Boyapati has no such calculations” said a director.
“Dhurandhar didn’t open thumping. Slowly it picked up on its own and nobody took the mic to promote the film. That’s the power of content and word of mouth. But for Akhanda 2 despite huge promotions things are not working and it is a clear hint of issues with content. The film has 10% Sanathana Dharma dialogues and 90% junk with Balakrishna’s elevations, exaggerations, non-sync characters and the second Balakrishna’s nonsense track” said a film critic.
On the whole surprisingly there are no people who are supporting this film openly off the record. On record they may say some good words about the film either to be in the good books of Balakrishna fans, a community, or a party, but off the record they have their own disgusts.
