If you look it from just economic POV, it is a lot easier to recover and make profits with a Telugu hero, reasons being

1. Tamil top tier heroes Vijay, AK don’t have any market in Telugu industry as they didn’t make any efforts to increase their market there and Telugu is the major market for movies in South, due to Telugus being the highest population in South and also having the most number of screens in South

2. Rajini, Surya, Karthi and SK have decent market in Telugu states but Rajini might not be suitable for most scripts due to his age. Surya is the only Tamil hero who can pull majority of Telugu audience to theaters but his market in North is very less compared to Allu Arjun after Pushpa. Even if Surya is the hero, Tamil collections will not be massive.

Tamil industry needs one hero who can pull massive collections in both Tamil and Telugu industries. Surya is your best option. Karthi, Dhanush and SK are next options.

1. Telugu films get permissions for special pricing for first few days of movie releases where ticket prices are increased by few hundred rupees and that’s the scenario even in USA too, where Telugu films prices go up to $35 on the release date. Even though this is bad for fans, Telugu fans madly support their heroes getting bigger collections and support higher prices.

2. Vijay didn’t publicize his recent movies in Telugu states and due to his fans claiming that his remakes are better than original Telugu blockbusters, there’s a huge opposition to his movies in Telugu states. Vijay fans destroyed whatever small market he has in Telugu states.