Any hero's stardom is gauged by the success of his films at the box-office and movie lovers, film makers will shy away from him if he fails to deliver at the box-office. However Tollywood stars are immune to Box-Office success.
Power Star Pawan Kalyan tasted success with ‘Gabbar Singh’ after 11 years, when he scored hit with ‘Khushi’ in 2001. Pawan speaking about this phenomenon says, My fans were coming up to me and pleading me to deliver a hit. A fan told me he was unable to hold his head high because I had strings of flops".
Same is the case with Natasimha Balakrishna who had just for hits in form of ‘Narasimha Naidu’, ‘Lakshmi Narasimha’,’Simha’ and ‘Legend’ from millennium. However his fan following never diminished and young Tiger NTR, Mass Raja Ravi Teja and even Prince Mahesh Babu experienced the same phenomenon.
Harish Shankar says, "Stardom has got nothing to do with success or failure. It is an undefinable quality of the star which people fall in love with. That's what is called charisma which separates the stars from the rest." and Gopi Mohan feels "Once a set of people become an actor's fans, they will always support him no matter what. An entire generation of moviegoers was impressed with Pawan Kalyan's mannerisms in his initial films like ‘Tholiprema’, ‘Thammudu’, ‘Badri’ and ‘Khushi’. People still relate him to those films. The same is true with Mahesh Babu too, who carved a niche for himself with films like ‘Rajakumarudu’, ‘Okkadu’, ‘Athadu’ and ‘Pokiri’. And fans of NTR subconsciously seek the guy they saw in films like ‘Aadi’ and ‘Simhadri’."
Gopi Mohan attributes it to legacy factor with Balakrishna being son of NTR, Ram Charan son of Chiranjeevi, Mahesh Babu Son of Krishna. He adds "Balakrishna has been part of films for more than 25 years now and his fans see him as an embodiment of his father. So despite not having a single hit to his credit for almost nine years, he was back with a bang with ‘Simha’ in 2010. The more flops they have, the more sympathy they generate among the audience. And people genuinely want their favourite actor's films to do well,"
Mega Star Chiranjeevi too tasted flops after string of hits like ‘Kodamasimham’, ‘Gang Leader’,’Rowdy Alludu’,’Jagadeka Veerudu Atiloka Sundari’ and ‘Gharana Mogudu’. However later he made a strong comeback with ‘Hitler’. Sukumar adds “Telugu commercial cinema format is not easy. The sensibilities of the audience might vary but there's no denying that an actor with an action hero image is the best bet. Besides, we are constantly trying to reach out to all sections of the audience while trying to strike a balance between the hero's image and our creative sensibilities, and that's what makes it very difficult to make a successful film with a star". Vamsi Paidipally reveals "Flop films of big stars make `30-35 crore. To put it simply — 'Stardom doesn't come easy. You have to earn it and once you do, then it stars forever'."