The year was 2018. Nani hosted the second season of Bigg Boss Telugu. A narrative took root on social media that he was unnecessarily being unkind to the most popular contestant in the house. A scribe asked him, ahead of the release of a movie, "Do you think your box office pull will be affected because the fans of that Bigg Boss contestant are going to boycott your movie?" Nani didn't even want to dignify the silly question.
Seven years later, that most popular contestant is nowhere to be seen. And Nani is the most popular Tier-2 Telugu cinema hero. That's the difference between being a flash in the pan and building an image over many years. If the opening-day collections of HIT 3 are anything to go by, he has steadily built an unreal level of image as a reliable actor.
Frankly, HIT 3 is not exceptional by any yardstick. In some ways, it is mediocre. Even its trailer was just about okay. Hi Nanna would have flopped had any other hero done it. The story's obvious deficiencies were successfully glossed over by Nani. Court: State Vs. A Nobody wouldn't have registered even ordinary openings had Nani not been its producer. He promoted it from the front.
Nani is now far more popular than when he delivered big BO hits like MCA and Nenu Local before the pandemic. While he continues to be a pretty average performer, his choices have proven to be smart.
There is something about him that makes him attract commercially viable scripts like a magnet. Did he actively seek raw action blocks and luckily found directors who also love to do them? May be. But other Tier-2 heroes, too, must be seeking such scripts. And their search hasn't been fruitful. With The Paradise next year, Nani is marked for something bigger. If HIT 3 openings are any indication, The Paradise will go on a rampage if the content is even above-average.
