By the numbers
- Films: 33 since 1991; 7 in the last ten years (cameos and guest appearances not counted)
- Recent films with figures: 8 of 8 since 2014
- Hits: 6 (3 blockbusters), average: 0, flops: 2 – a hit rate of 75%
- Average return: 2.19x budget; best: Jai Lava Kusa 3.33x; weakest: Rabhasa 0.62x
- Biggest hit: RRR (2022), ₹1,300 cr
- Trend: last five films 2.57x on average, the five before 1.56x (up)
- Born: 1983-05-20
- Awards on Wikidata: 2
| Year | Film | Budget | Box office | Return | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | War 2 | ₹300 cr | ₹303 cr | 1.01x | Flop |
| 2022 | RRR | ₹550 cr | ₹1,300 cr | 2.36x | Hit |
| 2018 | Aravinda Sametha Veera Raghava | ₹60 cr | ₹190 cr | 3.17x | Blockbuster |
| 2017 | Jai Lava Kusa | ₹45 cr | ₹150 cr | 3.33x | Blockbuster |
| 2016 | Janatha Garage | ₹50 cr | ₹150 cr | 3.00x | Blockbuster |
| 2016 | Nannaku Prematho | ₹45 cr | ₹87 cr | 1.93x | Hit |
| 2015 | Temper | ₹35 cr | ₹74 cr | 2.12x | Hit |
| 2014 | Rabhasa | ₹45 cr | ₹28 cr | 0.62x | Flop |
What the numbers say
NTR Jr’s record, as captured in the table above, is a run of reliability rather than runaway multiples. Across the eight films with figures, six landed in the hit column, three of them blockbusters, while two were flops — a 75 per cent hit rate. The average multiple sits at 2.19, meaning each rupee of budget returned a little over two rupees. The combined gross for those eight titles is ₹2,282.3 crore, and the figures run to 28 September 2026.
The headline is consistency: he seldom loses money, but his biggest grosser is not his best multiple. RRR (2022) is the biggest hit by collection, earning ₹1,300 crore against a ₹550 crore budget, a 2.36 multiple. Jai Lava Kusa (2017) was more efficient, returning ₹150 crore from ₹45 crore at a 3.33 multiple. The verdicts are in the table above; the important difference is between size and efficiency.
The hits and the misses
The biggest hit by gross is RRR, with a 2.36 multiple and a Hit verdict. The weakest return is Rabhasa (2014), which recovered only ₹27.75 crore from a ₹45 crore budget — a 0.62 multiple and a Flop. That is the clearest underperformance in the sample.
War 2 (2025) is the other miss: ₹303.22 crore from ₹300 crore, a 1.01 multiple and a Flop. It does not look like Rabhasa, but it underscores the same point — scale does not guarantee a strong multiple.
The trend
The recent five films in the table above average a 2.57 multiple, against 1.56 for the five before. That is a genuine improvement, but it is not a clean upward line. The recent stretch includes Janatha Garage (2016) at 3.0, Jai Lava Kusa (2017) at 3.33, Aravinda Sametha Veera Raghava (2018) at 3.17, then RRR at 2.36 and War 2 at 1.01. The average rises because the successful films are efficient enough, not because every recent release multiplies strongly.
What it means next
For NTR Jr’s next film, the scorecard argues for care with budget. His best multiples come from the ₹45 crore to ₹60 crore range: 3.33, 3.17 and 3.0. The most expensive title, RRR, earned enormous money but produced only a 2.36 multiple. The War 2 result, on a ₹300 crore budget, returned just over cost at 1.01. None of this is a verdict on his stardom, but the numbers suggest his value is sharpest below the 300-crore threshold.
For the industry, the scorecard separates a star’s draw from a project’s profitability. A ₹1,300 crore gross is valuable, but a 2.36 multiple is less attractive than a ₹150 crore gross at 3.33. The lesson is that event-scale casting needs event-scale discipline, while mid-budget productions are where this record performs best.
Figures: N. T. Rama Rao Jr. filmography on Wikipedia and each film’s page, read on 28 September 2026.
