'Jaanu' debacle: 4 key takeaways from the Samantha Akkineni starrer's lacklustre performance

Samantha Akkineni's Jaanu, which hit the screens on February 7, has turned out to be a commercial failure. The film collected Rs 8.54 crore (share) at the worldwide box office and recovered around 40 per cent of the pre-release investment. With the Telugu remake of the Tamil blockbuster 96 biting the dust, here are the key takeaways from the debacle.

Dream run comes to an end: There's no denying that 2019 was a pretty good year for the Akkineni Bahu. The young lady tasted success with the much-hyped Majili, which marked her first collaboration with husband Naga Chaitanya after marriage, and this worked wonders for her career. Samantha's other major release Oh Baby too exceeded expectations and clicked with the target audience. The lukewarm response to Jaanu has her brought her dream run to a shuddering halt, leaving 'A' fans heartbroken.

Three flops in a row: Jaanu is Sharwanand's third straight flop and this might affect his standing the industry. The star's troubles started when his 2018 release Padi Padi Leche Manasu under-performed at the box office and failed to impress a vast section of the audience. Things went from bad to worse, last year, when the Independence Day release Ranarangam failed to live up to expectations. While Jaanu had the potential to revive his fortunes, the final result has proved to be quite different.

Irreplaceable VJS and Trisha: Vijay Sethupathi and Trisha's 96 was earlier remade in Kannada as 99 with Ganesh and Bhavana in the lead. Sadly, the ambitious remake failed to deliver the goods. With the Telugu version too being unable to recreate the magic of the original flick, it seems VJS and the 'Lady Superstar' are irreplaceable.

Bad timing: Unlike 99, Jaanu received reasonably favourable reviews with most filmgoers praising the lead pair's chemistry. This, however, did not impact its box office performance as the film hit screens in February that is considered to be a 'dull' phase for the industry. In other words, the Jaanu might have fared better had it been released later.