Prabhas fans who have been waiting to see their Baahubali star return to the big screen after more than two years, were awestruck by what they called was “unbelievable Hollywood-level action” especially in the last 30 minutes of the movie. But their view was not seconded by critics at leading English websites that focus on Telugu cinema. All of them unanimously gave Saaho the thumbs down. 

Great Andhra has ripped the movie apart calling it a “huge let down”. It adds salt to the wounds by adding a bottomline : “Not even for Diehard fans”.

Mirchi9 website calls Saaho “stylishly made but incredibly dull fare”. Its headline screams : “Brutally boring”. Both websites have given 2/5 rating.

Gulte calls the movie a “colossal disappointment”. It writes : “It is hard to believe that all Sujeeth has done with Rs. 300 crore money is to visualize a video game kind of action movie that defies logic and sense. One would at least expect a coherent script for a film of this scale. But there is hardly any story in the film as it totally relies upon a couple of twists that come at interval and climax. The basic plotline is lifted from Largo Winch that was free-made into Telugu as Agnyathavaasi by Trivikram. Wonder what the makers were thinking when they went ahead of making Saaho even after seeing the plight of Agnyathavaasi.”

Telugu360 calls it a “messy hodgepodge action drama”.

Tupaki.com gives the movie 1.75/5 stars saying it falls “well short of expectations”.

Even senior movie journalist, Sangeetha Devi in The Hindu is disappointed with the product. She writes in The Hindu : “Riding on a staid and predictable plot, this ambitious film ends up as a disappointment.”

If the reaction to the Telugu version which had higher expectations, being Prabhas’ home turf, was bad, Mumbai was no better. Perhaps the most harsh reaction came from Taran Adarsh, veteran film critic who in a one-word review, called Saaho, “unbearable” in capital letters.