Just six hours since the teaser of The Raja Saab dropped on June 16, 2025, and the buzz is already unbalanced. While a segment of loyal Prabhas fans rushed to shower it with love, the larger part of the internet—and the industry—is asking a far more critical question: “Why another horror flick?” The disappointment isn’t just about one film. It’s about an entire industry chasing shadows in the dark—literally and metaphorically.
Produced by Maruthi and starring Tollywood heavyweight Prabhas, The Raja Saab claims to be a supernatural horror comedy. But the teaser feels anything but fresh. We’ve seen it all—ghostly eyes, exaggerated VFX, dim lighting, slow motion stares, and a predictable background score trying too hard to build tension. It reeks of déjà vu. And at this point, it’s not even spooky—it’s just lazy.
This isn’t the first time Bollywood or South Indian cinema has jumped on a trend just because one film worked. After the massive success of Stree, followed by Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2, filmmakers assumed the horror-comedy formula is fool-proof. But it’s far from that. As Karan Johar aptly put it recently at a press event, “There’s a herd mentality in the industry. One hit, and everyone blindly follows without questioning the need or the creativity behind it.” That’s exactly what’s happening here.
Audiences are getting smarter, not scarier. They notice when scripts lack depth, and when item songs and star-studded cameos are used as distractions from weak storytelling. Horror isn’t a genre you can recycle endlessly without evolving. Yet The Raja Saab feels like a half-hearted attempt to package old wine in a dusty bottle. Critics have already started pointing out how the teaser lacks originality, with many labelling it as a downgrade for Prabhas.
And that brings us to the real tragedy: Prabhas himself. Once hailed as the face of pan-India cinema after Baahubali, his recent choices—from Radhe Shyam to Adipurush—have sparked more debates than applause. With The Raja Saab, he’s once again risking his legacy on a script that seems neither promising nor innovative. His expressions in the teaser come across as dull, the humour seems forced, and the overall vibe screams “trying too hard.”
The problem isn’t horror as a genre—it’s the lack of reinvention within it. Indian cinema doesn’t need another spooky mansion and a possessed doll. Language is a very important medium or part when you're making a pan-India film, the secret behind the success of movies like Saairat or The Poster Boys was the originality of the Language itself. Just lip syncing to the script with a genre that's been stretching since a long time, won't be living up to the expectations. Indian Cinema needs stories that challenge, that move, that stay with the audience after they leave the theatre. Unfortunately, The Raja Saab doesn’t look like that film.
In the end, what was meant to be a thrilling teaser turned into a warning sign. A sign that says: Indian cinema needs to stop chasing trends and start chasing stories. And if stars like Prabhas continue to sign on to “mass entertainers” without substance, it won’t be long before even loyal fans stop showing up.
The Raja Saab teaser may offer a fleeting flash of nostalgia, but beneath it lies a dull, hollow attempt to cash in on horror-comedy's momentum. With sloppy VFX, cliché dialogues, and a star settling for less, it begs the question: has creativity in Indian cinema truly hit rock bottom—or are audiences finally waking up? Either way, The Raja Saab doesn’t lead us out of the tunnel—it plunges deeper.