Prabhas filmography

Prabhas is an Indian actor who works primarily in Telugu cinema. He made his acting debut in the 2002 Telugu film Eeswar. His subsequent film, Raghavendra (2003), was also not a commercial success.

His first commercially successful film was the 2004 romantic action drama Varsham, which earned him a nomination for the Filmfare Award for Best Actor – Telugu. He followed this with Adavi Ramudu (2004) and S. S. Rajamouli's 2005 action film Chatrapathi. The latter was a major commercial success and earned Prabhas a second Filmfare nomination for Best Actor – Telugu.

The period following Chatrapathi was marked by films with mixed box-office results. Productions such as Pournami (2006), Yogi (2007), and Munna (2007) did not meet commercial expectations. His career regained momentum with the commercially successful action-comedies Bujjigadu (2008) and Billa (2009).

In the early 2010s, he starred in the successful romantic comedies Darling (2010) and Mr. Perfect (2011). He returned to the action genre with Rebel (2012) and the action-drama Mirchi (2013). For his performance in Mirchi, Prabhas won the Nandi Award for Best Actor.

Prabhas reunited with S. S. Rajamouli for the two-part epic action film Baahubali. He played the dual title role in Baahubali: The Beginning (2015) and Baahubali 2: The Conclusion (2017). The films, produced bilingually in Telugu and Tamil and dubbed in multiple languages, expanded his profile nationally. The period from 2015 to the present marks a definitive and transformative phase in the career of the actor.^[1] This duology elevated him from a star in Telugu cinema to a nationally and internationally recognized figure, with media outlets, critics, and popular culture widely designating him as "India's first pan-India star".^[2] Baahubali 2 became one of India's highest-grossing films, and Prabhas won the SIIMA Award for Best Actor – Telugu for his performance.

The unprecedented financial success of the Baahubali series created immense audience expectations and commercial pressure for Prabhas's subsequent projects. This cemented a career strategy focused exclusively on high-budget, multilingual "event films" designed to appeal to a pan-Indian audience, rather than films targeted solely at the Telugu market. After Baahubali, Prabhas began starring in high-budget productions filmed simultaneously in Telugu and Hindi, intended for a pan-Indian release. This strategic shift was a conscious decision to leverage his new, broader market. However, this strategy of prioritizing large-scale spectacle, often in collaboration with directors less experienced than Rajamouli, led to a volatile trajectory of commercial and critical results.^[3] The first, the 2019 action-thriller Saaho, had a strong box-office opening but received generally unfavourable reviews from the critics. The film's Hindi-dubbed version was commercially successful, while the original Telugu version underperformed. The commercial success of the Hindi version, in spite of the film's critical failure, demonstrated the strength of Prabhas's individual brand and pan-India pull cultivated by Baahubali. This outcome may have reinforced the strategy of prioritizing high-budget spectacle, even at the expense of script quality. In an interview promoting Saaho, Prabhas noted that this pan-India approach expands the market, which in turn is necessary to justify the larger budgets required for such large-scale productions. This "stardom economy" model, where his star power is used to finance massive-scale productions, became the defining feature of his post-2017 career.^[4] He, then, starred in a romantic-drama Radhe Shyam (2022). Radhe Shyam was a significant commercial failure, described by trade media as a "huge disaster". Against a budget variously estimated between ₹200 crore and ₹300crore, the film grossed only ₹140–149.5 crore worldwide.^[5][6] This failure demonstrated the limits of Prabhas's pan-India brand. While audiences in the Hindi belt had accepted him in the action genre (Saaho), this high-budget romantic drama failed to find an audience, suggesting his post-Baahubali stardom was strongly tied to the action-spectacle genre. Prabhas later reflected on the failure, stating, "Maybe Covid or maybe we missed something in script".^[7]

In 2023, he appeared in Adipurush. A mythological epic based on the Ramayana, Adipurush was directed by Om Raut. Prabhas was cast in the lead role of Raghava (an interpretation of Lord Ram). Raut stated in interviews that Prabhas was his only choice for the role, citing his "clean heart" and "sincerity". With an estimated budget of ₹500–700 crore, it was one of the most expensive Indian films ever made.^[8][9] Adipurush had a strong opening weekend, largely fueled by extensive advance bookings and Prabhas's mass appeal and return to a mythological character. However, following the overwhelmingly negative public response, the film "had a sharp decline in collections" by its first Monday. It was ultimately declared a major "box office bomb".^[10] This film represented the lowest point of Prabhas's post-Baahubali career, being both a massive commercial failure and a significant cultural and public relations crisis.^[11]

He returned to commercial success with the 2023 action-drama film Salaar: Part 1 – Ceasefire. This film marked a strategic return to the high-octane, mass-action genre. It was Prabhas's first collaboration with Prashanth Neel, the director of the commercially successful KGF franchise.^[12] The film was produced with a budget estimated between ₹270–400 crore. Salaar received "positive reviews from critics". While some reviewers found the plot "confusing" and criticized its "relentless blood splurting violence" and "ultra loud bgm", it was generally seen as a successful commercial and critical return to form for Prabhas in the action genre, with praise for his screen presence and persona. This success was viewed as a strategic course correction. By aligning himself with Prashanth Neel, Prabhas effectively merged his brand with the proven pan-India appeal of the KGF aesthetic, successfully re-stabilizing his box office standing after the consecutive failures of Radhe Shyam and Adipurush.

In 2024, he starred in the science-fiction film Kalki 2898 AD, an ambitious science-fiction epic directed by Nag Ashwin. The film's narrative blended Indian mythology, specifically elements of the Mahabharata and the Kalki avatar, with a dystopian, post-apocalyptic setting.^[13] With a budget of ₹600 crore, it was reported to be the most expensive Indian film ever made. The film received generally positive reviews from audiences, and Indian and international critics. The Guardian praised its "maximalism" and "brassy looking" world-building. Critics lauded the film's ambition, visual effects, and the performances of its ensemble cast.^[14][15]

In 2025, he made a cameo appearance in the film Kannappa, and a re-edited, combined version of his Baahubali films was released under the title Baahubali: The Epic.

His upcoming films include the romantic horror-comedy The RajaSaab, scheduled for release in January 2026. He is also set to reprise his role in the sequel Salaar: Part 2 – Shouryaanga Parvam and star in the action films Spirit and Fauzi.

• All films are in Telugu, unless mentioned otherwise.