Why South stars find home more appealing than Bollywood

When Telugu star Mahesh Babu stated that Bollywood couldn’t afford him when asked why he didn’t head to Bollywood, a controversy erupted. Though he later clarified that he said his statement was not meant to be offensive but that he was happy doing Telugu films and would prefer to stay in Tollywood and take Telugu cinema to the world. This sentiment expressed by Mahesh Babu is not his alone but one that is shared by many actors in south cinema. Having said that, numerous south heroes have dabbled with Hindi films over the decades but have not tried to make Mumbai their home. Tamil stars Rajinikanth and Kamal Haasan , for instance, have done a handful of Hindi films but their core audience and fans are from south India and mostly Tamil-speaking people around the world. And this is true for any south hero. In 2010, when Tamil star Suriya did Ram Gopal Varma ’s ‘ _Rakht Charitra 2_ ’, he was asked about signing on more Hindi films and he stated, “I have never pushed myself for Hindi cinema. If I get to do different roles that excite me then I will surely love to do Hindi movies. But I will not stop doing films down South.” Given the regional sensibilities, language differences and the kind of persona that every region accepts as a hero, it is not easy for stars of south cinema to make it big in Hindi and vice-versa as well. Even heroes from Bollywood haven’t ventured into south cinema – except for a few who have played the ‘villain’ or negative characters. When Rana Daggubati from the Telugu film world, made his debut in Bollywood with ‘ _Dum Maaro Dum_ ’ in 2011, he was accepted by the Hindi film audience as one of their own. He went to sign more films but was always clear that he would work on Hindi films without compromising on his Telugu film career. He stated then, “I am very happy that I have been accepted. It is great to be noticed in the big ocean of Hindi films. I see so many newcomers coming every day, they shine once and go away.” Unlike Rana, National Award-winning Tamil star Dhanush has done more offbeat films in Hindi like Aanand L Rai ’s ‘ _Raanjhanaa_ ’ and ‘ _Atrangi Re_ ’ and R Balki’s ‘ _Shamitabh_ ’. When asked about doing more Hindi films, he said in an interview, “My heart and soul is in my mother tongue. I’ll do Tamil films. I’ll do Hindi films when I land very good stories, and very good filmmakers.

Now with south films being dubbed in Hindi and released, many in the south film industry wonder why they need to do a straight Hindi film when their market in Hindi is smaller and their films are anyway coming out in Hindi. When they are already big stars in their respective languages, going to Mumbai and starting from scratch to prove their talent and establish their market is not seen as required. Further, the Hindi film industry is already teeming with so many actors who are struggling to find their foothold and when these south stars are already successful commanding a salary that is often at par or more that some herpes Bollywood it doesn’t make sense to take this step. But actresses who have made it to the top of the game in south India have always had a penchant for Hindi cinema. If we had Hema Malini , Sridevi , Rekha and Jaya Prada ruling Bollywood decades back, we are now slowly seeing more south actresses make their way to Bollywood but cautiously. Kajal Aggarwal and Tamannaah Bhatia are two actresses who made their debut in Hindi films but found success and appreciation in the south film industry. They have signed on Hindi films periodically but the awards and accolades have come primarily for their Telugu and Tamil films. Cut to Lady Superstar Nayanthara , as she is known, is the numero uno actress in south India and she has signed on her first Hindi film, ‘ _Jawan_ ’, with Shah Rukh Khan only thanks to Tamil director Atlee whom she has worked with in Kollywood. She rejected Hindi film offers that came to her earlier as have others like Anushka Shetty . However, actress Samantha who cemented a pan-Indian audience thanks to ‘ _Family Man_ ’ and her song ‘Oo Antava Mawa’ in ‘ _Pushpa_ ’, is reported to have now signed a three-film deal with Yash Raj, though there is no official confirmation. Rashmika Mandanna made her debut with ‘ _Mission Majnu_ ’ and signed on ‘Goodbye’ with Amitabh Bachchan and ‘ _Animal_ ’ with Ranbir Kapoor . How successful she becomes in Hindi will be determined in the due course of time. While these actresses are signing on films with top Bollywood stars, they are holding on tightly to their south career – Nayanthara has ‘Godfather’ with Chiranjeevi and ‘Gold’ with Prithviraj, while Rashmika has ‘Pushpa 2’ with Allu Arjun , ‘Varisu’ with Vijay and ‘Sita Ramam’ with Dulquer Salmaan .

Interestingly, Bollywood ka bhai Salman Khan will be seen in Tollywood star Chiranjeevi’s ‘Godfather’ and this will mark his debut in south cinema. When asked about ‘heroism’ films and why south films were doing much better at the Hindi box office, Salman Khan at a press event in Mumbai recently said, “They (the south Indian film industry) have always believed in heroism, so have we. When you come out of the theatre, you need heroism. Here, apart from one or two people, we are not making heroism films. We should restart making those larger-than-life heroism films. I am doing that only. However, I feel these days, people have become cool and think I have become clichéd.” With Salman taking the first step to explore the south film industry and Ajay Devgn doing a cameo in the pan-Indian blockbuster ‘ _RRR_ ’, it remains to be seen if more Bollywood stars start signing south films rather than the other way round. Latha Srinivasan is a senior journalist based in Chennai. Her passion is entertainment, travel, and dogs. Read all the  Latest News ,  Trending News ,  Cricket News ,  Bollywood News ,  India News  and  Entertainment News  here. Follow us on  Facebook,  Twitter and  Instagram.