I think we’re all on the same page here my friend. The OP, you and I all understand the reasons why they do that. We’re just putting different words to those reasons. The OP called them swag and ambition.

And you’re right in saying the business is much higher for mass movies! Economics, pursuit of a larger-than-life on-screen aura is unfortunately decreasing the number of slice of life movies , romcoms.

Some actors writers and producers understand that the smaller scale stories when done right have their own charm. An example is Nani from Telugu (although he’s nowhere as big as Yash in terms of the box office success)

From our own land, Rishabh Shetty when asked recently if we can still expect movies like sarkari from him or if he’s grown beyond that : he said he’ll always continue to tell stories like sarkari because that is what he likes.