Yash trends on social media as Kiccha Sudeep's Vikrant Rona day 1 collection falls way below that of KGF-Chapter 2

In the last several months, there has been a simmering tension between fans of Rocking Star Yash and Kiccha Sudeep. It all began when Sudeep ‘failed’ to wish team KGF: Chapter 2 on the release of the film or later congratulate them for its good showing at the box office. The issue snowballed into a major online fight when Sudeep fans then brought up instances when he had wished Yash for KGF 1, and nominated him for a fitness challenge, among others. Yash had either not responded or brushed aside Sudeep’s comments, they said.

From the time Sudeep began promoting his film Vikrant Rona, Yash fans have been on overdrive, comparing the views and likes recorded by songs or the trailer of KGF-2 and that of Vikrant Rona in specific time periods, like, say, 24 hours, and putting out posts that the former retained all its records.

Today, shortly after team Vikrant Rona announced that they had amassed Rs 35 crore as world-wide collections, Yash and KGF-2 were trending again on social media. Reason being that the Sudeep film had not surpassed the day 1 collection of KGF-2. Herein lies the problem. They are comparing Vikrant Rona with KGF-2 and not KGF-1. KGF-2 had an advantage going for it that KGF-1 had created a massive buzz for it and that everyone who’d seen the first part was invested in the story and wanted to know what becomes of Rocky Bhai after he’d killed Garuda. KGF-1 had already set a template of what to expect, which worked wonders for the sequel.

In that sense, Vikrant Rona has nothing like that going for it. It’s only talking points were Kiccha Sudeep, who has a pan-India presence and following, and, to some extent, director Anup Bhandari, whose debut film Rangitaranga was a big hit locally. Which should put Vikrant Rona in the league of KGF-1. A big star leading a possible franchise and presenting a new character and world to audiences. What Yash did to Rocky Bhai and Narachi/KGF is what Sudeep has as the title character Vikrant Rona in the mysterious place Kamarottu. Any comparison with KGF-2 would be justified only if Vikrant Rona too has a sequel.

Several members of team Vikrant Rona had voiced this concern, while speaking off the record, and said it was an unjust comparison. With Vikrant Rona, they reckoned, audiences had no idea what to expect, whereas with KGF-2 there was an established backdrop and character.