Once known for keeping audience on the edge of the seats with their impeccable directional skills, Kollywood’s top trio of legendary filmmakers Shankar Shanmugam, AR Murugadoss and Mani Ratnam now appear to have past their prime as they are struggling to deliver even bare minimum content with their recent outings.

Shankar was undoubtedly the trailblazer of pan-India formula because his films cut across audience all over the country since time immemorial. He is rated as one of the biggest makers of commercial cinema in South India. Unfortunately, he is now a shadow of his former self as his recent attempts failed to impress moviegoers bigtime. He faced back-to-back setbacks with Indian 2 and Game Changer.

Another Tamil director who seems to have lost his Midas touch is the iconic auteur Mani Ratnam who has the history of delivering cult classics. Even though his last film Ponniyin Selvan managed to impress Kollywood audience to some extent, it failed to draw the attention at pan-India level as expected. Now, his latest offering Thug Life, which garnered massive expectations due to the star-studded casting, opened to a disappointing talk all over. The film is likely to incur heavy losses in all areas due to the poor verdict as per trade estimates.

AR Murugadoss, who joined the likes of Shankar and Mani Ratnam in the 2000s, by delivering sensational commercial hits like Ghazini, Thuppakki and Kaththi, is now in the state of oblivion because none of his recent films made a talking at the box office. Films like Spyder, Sarkar, Darbar tanked heavily at the box office. He tried to make amends with Salman Khan’s Sikandar, but couldn’t stage a comeback as expected.

As a bunch of fresh talent continues to thrive in Kollywood with directors like Atlee, Lokesh Kanagaraj, Nelson Dilip Kumar, Vetrimaaran and H. Vinoth embracing the pan-India formula by working with actors beyond Kollywood, it is just a matter of time before the top trio fades away from the limelight.