An unsavoury aspect of the year 2011 was that two of the most critically acclaimed films failed to pull the audience to theatres and lost their glory beyond the first few days of their release. We are talking about the fate of Bapu's Sri Rama Rajyam and Vijayendra Prasad's Rajanna. The films came with the right dose of rich content, venerated performances, fine narration, and fantastic music. Above all, they starred two of the biggest stars in the industry – Balakrishna and Nagarjuna respectively.

Alas! Their popularity failed to translate into moolah for their producers. Y Sai Babu, the producer of SRR, was visibly discouraged by the response his film was getting just 25 days into its release. He earnestly urged the audience (especially the youth) to watch the film which celebrates our culture and mirrors the virtuous aspects of our deities Rama and Sita. Rajanna’s producer, Nagarjuna himself, did not seem to care much for the audience turnout. He had, it must be remembered, said before the release of Rajanna that he did not make the film with the hope of minting money and was serious about acting in (and producing) meaningful films from now.

However, Rajanna's limited success, like that of SRR, is something to be felt sad about. For one, the film packed a universal theme. For another, it was a well-written, well-made period drama. Unlike SRR, which could not be expected to appeal to all, Rajanna is a film that all sections of the society would find something or the other. The very many soul-stirring songs (MM Keeravani), the leisurely pace of the movie, the performances (of Annie and Nag, and almost everyone), the action, everything was credible. Forget about the success, the near-perfect portrayal of the human Rama by Balakrishna almost went universally unnoticed.

One wonders if the fate of SRR and Rajanna has got more to do with the increasing inclination of the audience for action, romance and comedy, and their decreasing patience levels! Have they outgrown slow-paced movies? If yes, how did Journey, a dubbed movie that might have gone unnoticed, become an average farer? Is it all a sign of the decreasing aura of Balaiah and Nag? If a couple of flops behind them would mean that the audience will not watch them as well as they would have otherwise, how did NTR’s Oosaravelli amass so much in the first week? (NTR had Shakthi, a super flop a few months ago). Did the audience throng the theatres to watch action and more action in this film?

It doesn't require a social scientist to tell that the audience are in love with action, exaggerated heroism, expletives (read Businessnman, which acquired the Delhi Belly syndrome), a tantalising mix of violence and vulgarity and god knows what else! If you had any doubt, be informed that a mediocre film like Bejawada mopped up Rs. 1.5 crore on its first day of release in the Nizam. In the same market, SRR could collect only Rs. 2 crore in two weeks. Talk of debased tastes?