Did a re-watch of Okkadu recently and noticed this

I did a rewatch of Okkadu recently, and I was surprised by how grounded and thrilling the action felt. There’s a scene where Mahesh Babu’s character along with the female lead gets surrounded by goons and instead of acting invincible, he runs through a village with multiple paths, using the terrain smartly to split them up and take them down one by one. It felt intense because the character actually seemed vulnerable like he could get injured at any moment which gave the fight real stakes.

Telugu movies have always had larger-than-life action, but older films still maintained some level of realism and logic in their fight scenes. The heroes showed agility, strategy, fear, and survival instinct. In many recent films, though, the protagonist doesn’t even look intimidated when facing dozens or hundreds of goons. The fights often feel weightless the hero just stands there while enemies magically fly away after a single punch, with no tension or physicality involved.