Why This South Actor, Despite His Pan-India Presence, Failed In Bollywood

Malayalam cinema’s one of the finest actors is Prithviraj Sukumaran. Apart from being a stellar actor, he is also a director, playback singer, producer and action choreographer. He has also featured in Tamil, Hindi and Telugu films. The actor marked his acting debut in 2002 with the Malayalam film Nandanam. A few of his notable works are Salaar, Lucifer and Ennu Ninte Moideen. Despite his fame and popularity, he failed to make a mark in Bollywood and in fact, all his Hindi films flopped at the box office.

Prithviraj Sukumaran who was last seen in Aadujeevitham: The Goat Life garnered immense love and appreciation from the audience. The film and his performance received positive reviews and the film minted around 160 crore at the box office. In Bollywood, he has essayed the role of both a hero and a villain in a handful of Hindi films in which he has starred. However, all were a huge flop at the box office.

The Lucifer actor marked his debut in Bollywood with the film Aiyyaa opposite Rani Mukerji in 2012. It was directed by Sachin Kundalkar and jointly produced by Anurag Kashyap and Viacom 18 Motion Pictures. Aiyyaa garnered mixed to negative reviews and had an underwhelming performance at the box office. After Aiyyaa, he was roped in for Aurangzeb in 2013. The film also starred Arjun Kapoor, Rishi Kapoor, Jackie Shroff and Amrita Singh to name a few. The film was produced and distributed by Aditya Chopra under the banner of Yash Raj Films. The film opened to mixed reviews from critics and audiences. It did well overseas but was declared a flop in India.

He tried his luck once again in 2017 with the film Naam Shabana and played the role of a villain. Directed by Shivam Nair and written by Neeraj Pandey, the film served as the prequel to Baby. Naam Shabana starred Prithviraj Sukumaran, Akshay Kumar and Taapsee Pannu in the lead and Manoj Bajpayee, Anupam Kher, Danny Denzongpa and Shibani Dandekar in supporting roles. The film received mixed reviews but was an average success at the box office. In 2024, he once again starred opposite Akshay Kumar and Tiger Shroff in the film Bade Miyan Chote Miyan. The big-budget film was directed by Ali Abbas Zafar. The film was reportedly made on a budget of Rs 350 crore. But, it minted around Rs 102 crore at the box office.