The box office dreams of Ustaad Bhagat Singh have crashed to earth with a resounding thud. The Pawan Kalyan starrer is looking to wind up its entire box office journey at just Rs. 87 crore at the worldwide box office. This puts it squarely as the lowest-grossing film of Pawan Kalyan in the post-COVID era — a shocking verdict for a film that carried massive expectations. The numbers tell a story of rapid decline. On its opening day, Ustaad Bhagat Singh earned Rs 34.75 crore. On the second day, the film collected Rs 9 crore. On the third day, the film's collection stood at Rs 9.10 crore. What followed was a relentless downward spiral that even the festive Ugadi release couldn't arrest. What makes this particularly stinging is the competition factor. The embarrassing part for the Pawan Kalyan starrer is that it couldn't even stand a chance against its rival release, Dhurandhar: The Revenge, in its own territory. Interestingly, the Ranveer Singh starrer dominated the Telugu box office from its first Monday onwards despite releasing on limited screens. This represents one of those rare instances where a Bollywood film completely overpowered a star Telugu hero in his home turf. The critical reception was equally brutal. Nikhil Waiker from Deccan Herald rated 1/5 stars and stated, "Pawan Kalyan delivers another disappointment". BVS Prakash of Deccan Chronicle rated with 1.5 out of 5 stars and wrote "Ustaad Bhagat Singh is a predictable and outdated mass entertainer that fails to capitalise on its star power. With a weak script and inconsistent execution, it struggles to leave any meaningful impact." The financial implications are severe. "Ustad Bhagat Singh" was made with a reported budget of Rs 150 crore. As of now, it has recovered about 30% of that budget, which means it still has a long way to go before it reaches the "break-even" point, going by the early estimates. To be considered financially safe, the movie needs to cross the Rs 150 crore mark in net earnings. This debacle serves as a wake-up call for the Telugu industry. Earlier, films featuring star heroes used to collect respectable numbers riding on star power, but that's no longer the case. Regular commercial entertainers with outdated storylines are no longer being encouraged by audiences. The era where star power alone guaranteed box office success is definitively over, and content remains king in this new paradigm.