Another disappointment for Kajal

This hasn’t been a good start for Kajal Aggarwal in 2021. While her multilingual web series debut Live Telecast, directed by Venkat Prabhu, failed to enthuse streaming audiences and earned flak from reviewers, the fate of her theatrical releases is proving to be no different. Two films of the actress across Hindi and Telugu – Mumbai Saga and Mosagallu – released on March 19 to tepid responses from media and theatre-going audiences.

Vishnu Manchu’s ambitious cyber-thriller, Mosagallu, about the world’s biggest IT scam, where Kajal played sister to the lead actor, has bitten the dust. The absence of any hype and the poor treatment of a promising subject have dampened its financial prospects. The actor-producer had gone much beyond his market with the budget and ensured a wide release of the film though the risk hasn’t worked in his favour.

Kajal’s other film, Mumbai Saga, a masala gangster saga, has been largely affected by the second wave of the pandemic with the crowd restrictions reduced to 50%. Despite decent reviews and a bankable star cast comprising names like Emraan Hashmi and John Abraham, the film earned a meagre Rs 2.82 crore for the first day. In Telugu, Kajal is working on Nagarjuna’s next with Praveen Sattaru in addition to the Chiranjeevi, Ram Charan-starrer Acharya.