In recent times, the Indian box office has been dominated by epic, larger-than-life blockbuster movies — all from the South. RRR, Pushpa, KGF Chapter 2 – all three movies released in India in multiple languages, including Hindi. And all three shattered records left, right and center, especially at the Hindi box office.
The dominance of South blockbusters has been so utterly and devastatingly complete that Hindi cinema has no place to hide. Just for context, it is worth mentioning that the top three highest-earning ‘Hindi’ movies are all South films, “dubbed in Hindi”!
Yet, looks like it’s time up for blockbusters from the South — at least for the time being. A KGF 2 or an RRR comes but once in a while. It’s not everyday that a Yash or Jr NTR movie — a Kannada or Telugu film — hits the sweet spot with pan-India audiences. As of now, there seems to be nothing huge on the horizon; and Bollywood can breathe a sigh of relief!
Yes, KGF 2’s Prashanth Neel is working on ‘Salaar’ with Prabhas, but there’s no saying which way that film will go. Prabhas gave Indian cinema’s biggest pan-India blockbusters in the two Baahubali movies. But fell flat at the Hindi box office with his very next film, Saaho. Also, Prabhas‘ recent ‘Radhe Shyam’ proved to be a dud at the box office. So there’s no saying how big Salaar will be.
S S Rajamouli’s next film is with Telugu star Mahesh Babu. The actor is a superstar in his own Tollywood; but has zero pan-India appeal. So looks like it will be all quiet on the Rajamouli front too. As regards Pushpa 2, the first film in the franchise was a fluke hit in the Hindi belt. Its music was a huge contributing factor in its success. No one can tell if Pushpa Part 2 will be able to replicate the success of its predecessor.
So let’s see what else remains. Tamil film buffs harbour grandiose dreams that Mani Ratnam’s lavish ‘Ponniyin Selvan‘ will restore the pan-India glory of Tamil films, set by films such as Indian, Enthiran, Roja, among others. But the fact is that Ponniyin Selvan hardly has any buzz outside of Tamil Nadu. The general public in the Northern states of India haven’t even heard the movie’s name, let alone be excited by it.
Kamal Haasan, Fahadh Faasil, Vijay Sethupathi’s ‘Vikram’ has generated some amount of chatter – but it’s only on social media. There seems to be negligible chance that Hindi-speaking audiences will flock to the theatres to watch Vikram, especially when Ayushmann Khurrana‘s ‘Anek’ and Tom Cruise’s ‘Top Gun: Maverick’ will just be a week old in the theatres.
All of the above compels us to say it, and say it again – it’s time up for pan-India blockbusters from the South – at least for now!