Indian movies / IMdB

2023 was a year that blurred the borders between South Indian films and Bollywood. 2024 promises to take it a step further. There is such an influx of actors from down south into Bollywood and that of Bollywood in south films that you can no longer ignore the trend. 

If we analyze the why’s – the answer is simple – neither Bollywood nor the South Indian film industry (Tollywood) is ready to give up on the sizeable number of audiences beyond their state-lines. 

Let’s begin with Sriram Raghavan’s latest Merry Christmas who would have thought there would be a time Katrina Kaif will be working with Vijay Sethupathi? And to think, this isn’t even Vijay's first outing in Bollywood. We saw him and lauded him in Jawan where he was rubbing shoulders with Shah Rukh Khan. Vijay himself states that it is an out of body experience for him working with actors like Shah Rukh and Katrina because of the tangible divide that has always been there. 

Vijay has not been the flagbearer though, there has been this sort of cross pollination of actors from south to Bollywood and vice versa before too. Remember films like Chalbaaz which starred Sunny Deol and Rajinikanth both romancing Sridevi who worked in both south and Bollywood. Rajinikanth in fact started as early as the 1980s with films like Wafadaar, Geraftaar, Bhagwan Dada, Hum, Aatank Hi Aatank and so on. His inspiration was obviously, Kamal Haasan who had done movies like Ek Duje Ke Liye, Sadma, Saagar etc. In fact, Nagarjuna who was seen in Brahmastra: Part One - Shiva with his Nandi power has had many Bollywood releases too. Khuda Gawah, LOC Kargil, Mr Bechara, Zakhm and his most popular Shiva which was dubbed and released in Hindi. 

But back then it was a one-off deal when an actor would just come and try his luck in Bollywood. It was obvious that their roots were firmly planted in the south of India. Doing a Bollywood film was their way of trying something different, for the sake of change. Like many of our Bollywood actors were seen catching a bus to Los Angeles prior the pandemic.

But the money that S. S. Rajamouli made with his Bahubali franchise and the love that Prabhas received as an actor opened the revolving doors for both the industries. While S. S. Rajamouli and Prabhas are still touted as the first ones to open the floodgates of this influx, Prabhas’ Adipurush didn’t do it. 

Actors like Allu Arjun, Yash, Dulquer Salman who are making their presence felt in Bollywood. Pushpa The Rising broke the language barrier for Allu Arjun giving us an iconic character and a sequel to look forward to. On the other hand, Yash started his career in 2008 as a Kannada actor but went onto make KGF chapter1 in 2018 and KGF Chapter 2 in 2022. The franchise turned the tables completely. 

Unlike the aforementioned, Dulquer Salman has been taking a quieter route across with films like Karwaan, The Zoya Factor, Chup: Revenge of The Artist and 2023’s popular series Guns And Gulaabs. Superstar Mammootty’s son has always chosen the road less traveled but had hoped to change that with King Of Kotha, unfortunately the film only made mediocre business.

It Is not only the men who are traversing the boundaries of cinema, actress Samatha Ruth Prabhu has been touted as one of the most popular pan India actresses of our time. She beat the likes of Alia Bhatt, Deepika Padukone, Katrina Kaif to gain the top spot. This despite of her not making her Bollywood debut so far. 

Jawan might have worked for Vijay Sethupathi but the film marked actress Nayanthara’s Bollywood debut. Soon after Rashmika Mandana starred opposite B-town hottie Ranbir Kapoor.

The whole crossover business idea is clearly just another way of making a bigger buck. It sure did work for Ponniyin Selvan, the two part historic grandeur that starred south actors Vikram, Karthi, Jayam Ravi, Trisha Krishnan alongside our very own Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and was directed by the king himself – Mani Ratnam. This wasn’t the first time Ratnam merged the boundaries between states and made an entertainer for the whole of India.

His film Roja (1992) was dubbed and released in Hindi. Followed by Bombay which made Arvind Swamy almost a certified Bollywood actor, the actor went onto to make Sapnay with Kajol which sealed his fate and sent him back to the south. But Ratnam persisted with films like Dil Se which gave SRK one of his most iconic movies, years later there was Yuva, Raavan and so on, his film Naayakan was remade into Dayavan – the film which gave us Madhuri Dixit. So, if there has been a true Pan India superstar it has had to be Mani Ratnam from the 90s till today.

As of now, priorities state that we need more movies making 1000Cr (US$ 120 million) at the box office, is going pan India the only way there? Perhaps! But let’s hope the economics aside, the initiative gives us movies we will all be proud of and not a cringe-fest!