Is Bollywood Finally Catching Up To The Need For Non-Hindi Movies?
While large parts of India are still debating if Hindi is the country’s national language (though it is not mentioned in the constitution), Bollywood seems to be quietly paving the way to include more regional languages in its realm.
Well, not that quietly, it obviously comes in the form of song and dance!
Iconic South Indian filmmaker SS Rajamouli of “RRR” fame, shared the Telugu language teaser of Alia Bhatt and Ranbir Kapoor’s Hindi song ‘Kesariya’ from their upcoming movie “Brahmāstra.” Titled “Kumkumala,” it features a few seconds of additional footage in the beginning that the audience had not seen previously and is sung by Sid Sriram.
Historically, it has always been regional movies that are dubbed into Hindi to cater to a larger audience.
However, the first mainstream South Indian film to erase this barrier between South and North was “Baahubali.” The word ‘pan-India’ essentially originated following the blockbuster success of “Baahubali” not just in the South of India but also in the northern market. Recently, Telugu films like “Pushpa: The Rise” and “RRR” have gone on to propel the Telugu takeover of Bollywood.
Allu Arjun, Samantha Akkineni, Dhanush, Rashmika Mandhana, and Junior NTR, have become names that have outshined Bollywood actors like the Khans, Ranveer Singh, Deepika Padukone, and many more. What is even more surprising is that Tollywood is gradually becoming the pan-India film industry, and Bollywood is far from touching it.
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Bollywood actors, however, are definitely more keen on exploring options from the southern shores of India. Ranveer Singh is collaborating with Tamil filmmaker Shankar for a remake of superstar Vikram’s “Anniyan.” Ajay Devgn and Alia Bhatt starred in SS Rajamouli’s “RRR,” and even Shah Rukh Khan’s upcoming film “Lion” is being directed by Tamil filmmaker Atlee, featuring Tamil & Telugu star Nayanthara featuring in a lead role.
With Ayan Mukerji’s “Brahmāstra” all set to be released in Hindi, and four South Indian languages, (Telugu, Malayalam, Tamil, and Kannada) Bollywood is recognizing the huge market that it can gain by working hand-in-hand with regional filmmakers and actors.
The audience craves entertainment and where Hindi movies have failed, regional cinema has risen gloriously. It seems like Bollywood is finally catching up to the need for non-Hindi movies as the recipe to success.
