After sensible movies like 'PSV Garuda Vega' and 'Chandamama Kathalu', many started seeing Praveen Sattaru as a new-age director with lots of calibre. 'The Ghost' is his career's most expensive film (no, it is not 'Garuda Vega', which, by the director's own admission, was completed on a budget of Rs 12 Cr). 'The Ghost' must have taken upwards of Rs 15-18 Cr.
Sattaru has been seen also as a producer's director. He plans everything to the last detail before starting production. 'The Ghost' was his biggest-ever opportunity to become a top-billed director once and for all. But the Nagarjuna-starrer has flopped now.
Many good films bite the dust at the box office. That's not the issue. 'The Ghost' is amateurish and that's the issue. Sattaru failed to get the execution right despite a super-talented crew working on the movie. The action choreographers and the cinematographer are highly experienced. He had Mark K Robin as the composer of the background score, from which he could extract only loud and jaded BGM.
The climax fight has been mocked for its ridiculous ideas. Nagarjuna's sister in the movie is seated in a wheelchair in the opposite direction. The hero wields a machine gun and rains bullets on the villains in the same direction. What was the director even thinking? Before he can unleash the fury of his machine gun, the hero could have easily pulled aside his sister onto his side. He doesn't even make an attempt. Sattaru's idea of dramatizing the action scene ends up becoming his career's most absurd scene.
Without a doubt, 'The Ghost' has spoiled his brand. He now pins hopes on his next action thriller with Varun Tej.
