Before Karwaan's Dulquer Salmaan, a look at how South actors have fared in Bollywood, from Kamal Haasan to Dhanush

If we look at the history of Indian cinema, heroes from the southern part of the country have always tried to foray into the Bollywood film industry. Most of them prefer to remake the hit films from south to make their debut in Hindi and rarely do we see actors opt for fresh scripts. For some reason, irrespective of success and failure, heroes from the south couldn’t compete with the superstars of Bollywood. Well, that said, most of the top actors from Bollywood don’t even try entering the southern market.

Among the southern actors, Kamal Haasan can be termed as the most successful star in Bollywood. Kamal debuted in Hindi with Ek Duuje Ke Liye, the remake of K Balachander 1978 Telugu film Maro Charitra. The film was a huge hit and Kamal was even considered to be a threat to leading Bollywood actors of that time.

Kamal’s presence was strongly felt in Bollywood with films like Sadma (critically acclaimed), Saagar, Appu Raja, the dubbed version of Apoorva Sagodharargal, Chachi 420 (remake of Avvai Shanmughi) and Hindustani (dubbed version of Indian). But just like how Kamal’s market started coming down in Tamil, his bilingual experimental attempts including Hey Ram and Vishwaroopam ended up becoming commercial failures in Hindi. The reason why Kamal missed his golden run in Bollywood is mainly because of his experimental films.

Kamal Haasan’s arch-rival Rajinikanth also appeared in several Hindi films in the ‘80s. Rajinikanth made his debut in Hindi film industry with the hit film Andha Kanoon (1983), the remake of Tamil hit Sattam Oru Iruttatrai. Later, Rajinikanth appeared in more than twenty ‘direct’ Hindi films. Rajinikanth stopped signing Bollywood flicks after he achieved the superstardom in Tamil, especially post the massive success of Baashha. Nowadays, Rajinikanth’s films are being dubbed in Hindi and he has a decent market in Bollywood mainly because of the popularity he gained in the 80s and early 90s.

Following the success of Kamal Haasan and Rajinikanth, two top Telugu actors — Chiranjeevi and Nagarjuna — also tried their luck in Bollywood. Chiranjeevi debuted in Hindi with Pratibandh, the remake of blockbuster Telugu film Ankusam and later acted in a couple of films including Gang Leader (remake of his own Telugu hit), The Gentleman (remake of Shankar-Arjun’s Gentleman). Nagarjuna debuted in Hindi with Ram Gopal Varma’s Shiva; the duo joined hands again in Drohi and the actor also appeared in secondary roles in films like Khuda Gawah. However, both Chiranjeevi and Nagarjuna didn’t have long Bollywood innings like Kamal Haasan and Rajinikanth.

Analysing the current generation of actors from the South, Dhanush had shown a great potential and strongly announced his arrival with the super hit romantic drama Raanjhanaa. The film fetched critical and commercial acclaim to the actor. But Dhanush’s most anticipated second Bollywood attempt Shamitabh was a commercial failure. The actor is now planning to join hands with his Raanjhanaa director Aanand L Rai again in 2019. Besides Dhanush, Chiranjeevi’s son Ram Charan debuted with the much-hyped Zanjeer in which Priyanka Chopra was paired opposite the actor but unfortunately, the film bombed at the box office.

Though Rana Daggubati appeared in Hindi films like Dum Maaro Dum and Baby, he didn’t get an opportunity to completely hold a straight Hindi film. After the popularity he gained through Baahubali series, Rana is pinning hopes on Prabhu Solomon’s animal-based emotional thriller film Haathi Mere Saathi. Baahubali’s hero Prabhas is also eyeing the Hindi market with upcoming films like Saaho and an untitled period romantic drama, which will have a simultaneous release in Bollywood.

While Tamil and Telugu actors always tried their best to expand the market in Bollywood, Malayalam superstars rarely appeared in Hindi cinema. Among the Malayalam actors, Mohanlal debuted in Hindi with Ram Gopal Varma’s crime thriller Company (2004) and later appeared in the director’s box office dud Aag. Mammootty made his Hindi debut with Dhartiputra but it wasn’t a commercial success.

Unlike other Malayalam actors, Dulquer Salmaan — who is known for choosing content-driven quality flicks in Malayalam cinema — is meticulously working to get into Tamil, Telugu and Hindi territories. Dulquer’s debut Tamil film Vaayayi Moodi Pesavum was an average grosser but the actor scored a hit with Mani Ratnam’s O Kadhal Kanmani and currently has two upcoming Tamil films including Kannum Kannum Kollayadithaal and Vaan.

The talented actor also marked his debut in Telugu with the blockbuster Mahanati, in which he essayed the role of legendary actor Gemini Ganesan. Dulquer is now all set to enter Bollywood with Karwaan , which is scheduled to release on 3 August. In Karwaan, Dulquer shares screen space with another talented actor Irrfan Khan. While fans of the Malayalam actor are eagerly waiting to know the verdict of Bollywood audiences, Dulquer has already signed another Hindi film, Zoya Factor, which shows that he will continue acting in more films in Bollywood to become a pan-Indian actor.