There is a substantive problem with director Koratala Siva. And nobody is bothered to talk about it because people rarely examine the crisis of creativity.
What Koratala Siva said in an interview in 2018 should worry his admirers. In a YouTube interview, the director stated that he will be doing seven more films ('Acharya' included) before retiring from films. So far, so good. But what is problematic is that he also said that he had already written the stories of all the seven films.
What do filmmakers usually mean when they say 'The story is ready'? Take the case of 'Acharya'. It started with this thought somewhere: "An outsider migrates to a distressed place where the villain is perpetuating unspeakable atrocities on good people". As time passed, Koratala Siva thought of using the backdrop of a temple town. To draw a sharp contrast, he made a Naxalite become the saviour of the temple town (Naxalites hardly think of protecting a temple town in real life).
If you notice, the central premise doesn't change much. The formula is intact with some changes here and there. Ram Charan's character was lengthened later because the director wanted to add an X factor.
We now know what Koratala Siva meant when he said he has stories of all seven films ready. But then, the very premise can become outdated in 2025 if it was conceived in 2015 or before. It is safe to assume that 'Acharya' is so outdated because of this reason. A lot of directors write stories/premises and make films many years later - which is when they get the opportunity to wield the megaphone. That's why novelty goes missing in their films. Highly creative writers/directors think of ideas that don't become outdated in 10 years.
That's why a failure like 'Acharya' was inevitable. It was waiting to happen. Such a flop must force Koratala to have a rethink. He should think of fundamentally transforming the way he ideates stories. For that, he needs to work with writers, old and new. His films can't be about a saviour-hero walking in slow-motion all the time. People are done with the template.
