Game Changer starring Ram Charan, Kiara Advani and directed by one of the legendary commercial film directors of Indian Cinema, Shankar, is struggling with promotions. The highly anticipated movie is not being able to find the fan frenzy such a big budget epic action movie should. 

When the combination of Ram Charan and Shankar came together for this movie, many thought after RRR, this would cement Ram Charan's hold as top star all-over India for sure. But the director's Indian 2 starring Kamal Haasan, has changed that impression greatly. While it became his first ever disaster at the box office, even his previous films like I, 2.0 did not really create huge records at the box office. 

Shankar's films like Gentleman, Indian/ Bharateeyudu, Jeans, Kadhalan/Premikudu, Mudhalvan/Oke Okkadu have been such big hits in both Telugu and Tamil markets that anticipation for the director's film has been huge in both markets. His Boys did average business in Tamil but became a hit in Telugu markets. 

Later, he delivered another universal blockbuster with Aparichitudu/Anniyan and then took his stock value to next level with Rajinikanth's Shivaji and Enthiran/Robo. Enthrian created records that challenged even Hindi cinema worldwide gross. But after such a high, he seems to be on a downward spiral. 

Vijay's Snehitudu/Nanban is his first ever remake and he remade 3 Idiots in South Indian languages. The movie did not click as expected in Telugu. Later, his I took 3 years in the making and 2.0 another 3 years. He faced issues with over budget with the production house and many anticipated it to collect as huge as Baahubali 2 or at least Rs.1000 crores but many BO experts say that it touched Rs.650-800 crores. 

The problem is that both I and 2.0 cost huge budgets to producers that they did not end up being profitable from theatrical business. More than that, the Shankar mark "blockbuster guarantee" filmmaking brand perception got badly hit among audiences. The theatrical experience of I and 2.0 had been so underwhelming that many thought Shankar lost his touch. 

He proved it big time with Indian 2 and he had to shuffle between Game Changer and Indian 2, Indian 3 shoots due to legal issues. He did not want to continue shooting Indian franchise films after budget disputes with Lyca Productions. But Game Changer came into existence as producer Dil Raju wanted his 50th production film to be special in Shankar's direction. 

So, more than Ram Charan's box office pull, Shankar's brand image that took big hits in the last 15 years after 15 years of all-time highs seem to be effecting Game Changer. Till date, even S Thaman songs did not work in favour of changing the perception towards the film. 

With Pushpa 2 The Rule's wildfire collections at the box office, Ram Charan fans are eager to see Game Changer also post such big numbers stamping his authority over his contemporaries and also establish his stake as Global Star. Will that be the case or not? We can say that only after the movie release on 10th January 2025, for Sankranti release.