Prabhas storms B-town, while his peers mint money in TS, AP

Undoubtedly, the year 2019, belongs to hotshot star Prabhas since he wowed the pan-India viewers with 'Saaho' to become the first Telugu star to rock Hindi heartland by drawing more than Rs 60 crore collections.

"Prabhas is shining bright across India and expanded his base, particularly among Hindi-speaking audience, who negated Telugu stars for many years.

Even recent release of another big Telugu star crashed in Hindi territory," says trade expert Taran Adarsh, who feels that Prabhas has become the 'face' of Telugu cinema for now. "Of course, Mahesh Babu and Vijay

Devarakonda also gaining popularity, but Prabhas is way ahead of them and his market could expand beyond Rs 300 crore," he adds.

Whereas, his peers like superstar Mahesh Babu(Maharshi), Venkatesh (F2), Ram (iSmart Shankar), Chiranjeevi (Sye Raa….) minted money in the two Telugu states varying between Rs 50 to 85 crore and filled the pockets of many distributors.

Among the younger lot of actors, Varun Tej (Gaddlakonda Ganesh), Sai Dharam Tej (Chitralahari) and Adivi Sesh (Evaru), Kalyan Ram (118),

Bellamkonda Srinivas (Rakshasudu), Nikhil (Arjun Suravaram), who

delivered 'average' grossers ranging between Rs 12 to 20 crore, while it has been a disappointing year for Vijay Devarakonda, Sharwanand, while Karthikeya of 'RX 100' fame, remained a one-film wonder.

Atlast, Chiranjeevi fulfilled his dream of playing a freedom fighter in 'Sye Raa...'and broke box office records in AP, TS but couldn't make a mark among non-Telugu viewers.

Director Sudheer Varma feels that stars need to experiment more than sticking to chosen path to attract Telugu audience, who are game for variety these days.

"Along with good guy roles, 2019 has been the season of dark heroes. Our new heroes are illiterate, fearless, who don't mind mouthing a few cuss words and showcase their machoism. A damn-a-care attitude and beating their opponents to pulp to draw whistles and collections as well, besides breaking many a stereotype. But not all dark films have worked due to bad scripts," he adds.

"Among middle-aged stars, Chiru and Venky scored big hits, while their colleagues had hit a lean patch. Balakrishna's latest film 'Ruler' also tanked at the box office after his much-hyped two part NTR biopic went down without a whimper early this year," says distributor Ramakrishna and adds "Even a bold role by Nagarjuna went haywire as his playboy story 'Manmadhudu 2' had no takers. Probably, seasoned actors have to play it safe rather than going against their established image."