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, courtesy 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 ₹100 crore gross worldwide on the opening day alone. But that proved to be a false dawn, as the Maruthi directorial crash-landed on the second day itself. Day after day, The Raja Saab lost ground at the box office and suffered further when Chiranjeevi’s Mana Shankara Vara Prasad Garu overtook it three days later.
After 11 days at the box office, The Raja Saab has earned ₹141 crore net in India and ₹203 crore gross globally. After tax deductions, the film’s worldwide net gross is estimated at around ₹160 crore. According to trade pundits, the film may struggle to reach ₹200 crore global net. Given the film’s massive landing cost of ₹350 crore, it will leave distributors with a significant loss. The notional box-office loss for the film is estimated at around ₹160-170 crore. Is The Raja Saab Prabhas’ biggest flop?
Prabhas is arguably one of the biggest film stars in India right now. Baahubali catapulted him to nationwide fame. However, barring Salaar and Kalki 2898 AD, the actor has failed to convert that stardom into box-office success. Four of his releases since Baahubali – including The Raja Saab – have been unsuccessful at the box office. All of them have been massive films that lost heavily. It is a testament to just how bad the track record has been that with its projected ₹160 crore loss, The Raja Saab is not even among the worst two flops of Prabhas.
Adipurush, Om Raut’s ill-fated adaptation of the Ramayana, remains Indian cinema’s biggest money-losing film. The film was made on a record budget of ₹550 crore, and ended up making just ₹288 crore in India and $6 million overseas. Its estimated global net collection was just ₹310 crore, giving the film a notional loss of ₹240 crore. Similarly, Radhe Shyam, Prabhas’ first film after Baahubali, was also a massive box office bomb. The romantic drama was made on a reported budget of over ₹300 crore, but it ended up earning only ₹104 crore net in India and $4 million overseas. This gave it an estimated net global collection of ₹120 crore, and a notional loss of ₹180 crore. Saaho, the other disappointment from Prabhas, managed to work in the Hindi belts, salvaging some of its pride. Made on a ₹350-crore budget, the film earned ₹310 crore net in India and $13 million overseas. Its global net haul of ₹345 crore was still less than its budget, though.
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