Shakthi, the Jr NTR-starring fantasy action drama, was conceived as just an action drama. When writer-director Meher Ramesh pitched the storyline to producer C Ashwini Dutt, he had a Mission Impossible kind of treatment/genre in mind. So, what happened thereafter?
Ashwini Dutt told Meher Ramesh to turn the story into a fantasy with a strong devotional undercurrent. The producer drafted Yandamoori Veerendranath and JK Bharavi to help Ramesh write a story involving religious themes. Ramesh cautioned the producer that the budget would shoot up, but Dutt told him not to worry about the costs. The initial outlay was Rs 22 Cr or so. After the film's genre was changed, the budget shot up like anything. Shakthi went on to become a humongous disaster at the box office.
After Shakthi, Meher Ramesh made Shadow with Victory Venkatesh in the genre he preferred. This film, too, flopped badly. It's likely that Shakthi would have become a flop even if its genre was not changed by Ashwini Dutt. However, the quantum of losses would have been contained because the budget wouldn't have shot up.
