India, Jan. 21 -- The year 2026 started with Prabhas bringing out a return to his vintage avatar in The Raja Saab. The horror comedy was being touted as the first pan-India film of the year and potentially the year's first blockbuster. After a huge opening, Prabhas' star power, the film fizzled out due to extremely bad word of mouth. And now, less than two weeks later, it stands on the precipice of being one of the biggest box office bombs in Indian cinema history.

The Raja Saab released on January 9 amid much fanfare, securing 35000 screens globally. The wide release it secured across India was largely due to Prabhas' pan-India appeal. This enabled the film to earn Rs.100 crore gross worldwide on the opening day alone. But that proved t...