For the past few years, the Southern films are outrightly dominating the Bollywood box office, an open secret even known to the Hindi filmmakers.
Celebrated Bollywood Analyst cum Business Transformation Expert Hirav Shah says, “Films like Baahubali and RRR turned out to be global money-spinners, and the man behind both the films is director S S Rajamouli. The films would not have worked just as well in Hindi or, for that matter, any language if they starred anyone else, if not Prabhas, NTR, or Ram Charan. But Prabhas learned the fact that both Saaho and Radhe Shyam post-Baahubali releases failed to impress the Hindi belt moviegoers. Though Saaho performed comparatively well than Radhe Shyam, it didn’t work despite North Indian heroines like Shraddha Kapoor and Pooja Hegde. Though the Telugu producers are paying the Mumbai heroines much more than what they get in Hindi films, the fact is that the Hindi audience is looking forward to good content more than skinny shows.”
Incidentally, the first choice opposite Prabhas in Radhe Shyam was Katrina Kaif, but as she quoted huge bucks, the makers went ahead with Pooja Hegde as the female lead in the movie.
Shah adds, “On the other hand, both NTR and Ram Charan should assume RRR’s success and try their luck in Hindi cinema by knowing what the audience is expecting from them. A few years back, Ram Charan did try his luck in Bollywood in 2013, with a miserably unsuccessful remake of Amitabh Bachchan’s iconic 1973 career-making film Zanjeer. Hope he learned a lesson from past mistakes. After the unexpected success of Pushpa: The Rise, Allu Arjun is not eager to sign any Hindi films soon.”
In one of his web interactions, Allu Arjun revealed, “I am happy where I am. It’s taken a lot of hard work to get where I have in Telugu cinema. I wouldn’t like to disrespect my fans. Bollywood will happen when it happens. I am so glad Kartik Aaryan is doing the remake of the Hindi remake of my Telugu hit Ala Vaikunthapurramuloo.”
Hirav Shah points out, “The same is the case with the Tamil star Vishal Krishna who also thinks on similar lines. Just because a handful of South films have worked so spectacularly in Hindi, it doesn’t follow that all of us can hope for a career in Bollywood. It’s the content that worked in Baahubali and Pushpa.”
“The Recent example is Kollywood’s biggest star, Vijay, who has fallen flat on his face trying to woo Hindi audiences with his latest release Beast which is dubbed as ‘Raw’ in Hindi. Raw’s miserable collections in Hindi, partially attributable to the success of KGF Chapter 2, a Kannada franchise film dubbed in Hindi, which is breaking records at this very minute, is a huge embarrassment for Vijay and a warning signal for all the South superstars. They should make a note of what kind of films the Hindi audience is expecting from them.”
Shah says, “Now, all eyes are on another Telugu superstar Vijay Deverakonda who makes his Hindi debut later this year with the Karan Johar produced Liger. Being directed by Puri Jagannath, Liger has Bollywood beauty, Ananya Pandey, in the female lead role.”
Vijay Deverakonda’s opinion “I don’t see the audience divided by language anymore. Regionalism has disappeared from our cinema, especially since the success of the OTT platform during the past two years. Liger is neither a Hindi nor a Telugu film. It is an Indian film.”
Shah concludes by saying, “Everyone has to wait and see how far will Vijay Deverakonda impress the North audience with Liger, which is scheduled for an August 25th release.”
