While south Indian actors like Vijay Deverakonda, Vijay Sethupathi and Rashmika Mandanna will be seen in Hindi films in 2022, Bollywood stars Alia Bhatt, Kriti Sanon and Deepika Padukone are working in what are primarily Telugu language films. The transition is part of the move to create films for pan-India audiences made either by Bollywood or southern film studios but to be released in multiple dubbed languages for reach across markets.
While Hindi film actors have realised the appeal of these large-scale southern films, south Indian actors are also keen to look beyond their core base. Prabhas’ Radhe Shyam, Adipurush and the untitled film with Padukone, Deverakonda’s Liger produced by Karan Johar and SS Rajamouli’s RRR are a few titles that have seen or will see actors crossing over to other languages.
Rajamouli’s Baahubali franchise had shown the way for Telugu and Tamil films to penetrate into the Hindi heartland including small towns in states like Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, and more recent films have built on the trend. Released late December, the dubbed Hindi version of Allu Arjun’s Pushpa: The Rise-Part One, had made over Rs. 100 crore, with Maharashtra and Gujarat driving the business. This was Arjun’s first release in the Hindi market and had released without any marketing or promotional buzz.
The earnings of Pushpa have demonstrated to audiences in the north the kind of scale that southern films and actors are capable of. So audiences will definitely see more debuts of actors in new languages. It’s how Hollywood decided to take over more of the world through dubs and subtitles, trade experts say.
