Today, Prabhas’s much loved Darling movie has completed a decade. The Karunakaran directorial is the film that changed the course of Young Rebel Star and brought him closer to youth and families. It is also the flick that permanently affixed the moniker Darling to him.
To understand the importance of Darling, we have to get further back in time by five years. In 2005, Prabhas had Chatrapathi, his first combination with director SS Rajamouli. Since then, the star struggled to get a proper hit. Many films post-Chatrapathi came with high expectations, but none managed to get the hit talk. There were a couple of average grossers, but none were getting him the real mileage as a star. At then, at the turn of the new decade, Darling happened.
The Karunakaran film was an instant hit with the fans, youth and family audience. It’s music by GV Prakash, and the pairing of Prabhas with Kajal is fondly remembered even today. Darling laid the foundation of what follows next for Prabhas like Mr Perfect, and Mirchi. The styling, youthful charm, and mass heroism without alienating the family audience were common elements seen henceforth. He also had an extraordinary run since then with back to back successful movies.
While Prabhas benefitted a lot from Darling, unfortunately, it was the last good film from director Karunakaran. He showed brief glimpses but hasn’t been able to deliver a complete entertainer in his style after it.
 |
