The sorry saga of young Tollywood directors biting the dust pretty fast continues with Mowgli. The failure of the Roshan Kanakala-starring film at the ticket counters is astounding. Film critics have panned Mowgli in biting ways. A common charge laid against Mowgli is that it is tad outdated. No amount of mourning can do justice to the tragedy that Teja's early-2000s hits like Jayam served as the inspiration behind Mowgli. Films like Jayam worked mainly because of their chartbusters. Today, no music director delivers those kinds of theatrical experiences.
Sandeep Raaj's second movie not getting appreciated for anything is depressing. When Colour Photo came out, everyone assumed that a new-age director had arrived. After Colour Photo's release on OTT in 2020, Sandeep Raj wrote a big-scale script. He pitched it to Ravi Teja. He also made active efforts to direct a heroine-centric movie fronted by Sai Pallavi. Eventually, his conviction to tell a commercial love story drove him to write Mowgli, an adventurous romantic drama. Unfortunately, the gamble didn't pay off.
Most Tollywood filmmakers who have scored a hit with their debut movie in the last 10-15 years are the least productive. They take years to make their second movie, which invariably turns out to be a dud. Their sophomore movie quickly breaks down their image. These guys have loads of budgets at their service, but have no versatility, no inclination to be prolific, and no hunger to tell grounded stories. They keep chasing scale and waste years. It's a frustrating saga to watch!
