Bollywood no longer mainstream cinema, south superstars take centerstage and how

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Gone are the days when affixing a superstar Bollywood name to a project would lure the audience. With cutting-edge global cinema at everyone's fingertips, movie-watching habits have rapidly reorganised in the past few years. Language and genre are no longer restrictions. That's why when Suriya’s ‘Jai Bhim’ appeared on top of Google's 'Year in Search 2021' list as the most searched film of the year, some were surprised, many still curious. The film overtook prominent Bollywood outings including Bell Bottom and Radhe featuring bigshots like Akshay Kumar and Salman Khan, respectively. Traditional understanding would have proposed a much different title crowning the list, but as unconventional as the past year has been, the result doesn't appear to startle.

As we draw curtains for the year 2021, search engines and social media trends exhibit a platonic shift from Bollywood. For decades regional stars, particularly of the South, have attempted accessing the pan-Indian audience but in 2021 they not only seemed to have swamped the B-town but global audience too. "Baahubali" star Prabhas' name appearing as the number one South Asian celebrity in the world for 2021 by UK-based Eastern Eye weekly newspaper testifies it.

Known for Telugu blockbusters Bujjigadu, Darling and two Baahubali movies, he was picked for his power to lure people to regional language films in India for the annual ‘50 Asian Celebrities In The World’ list. The 42-year-old actor, caught the eye for transforming the face of the world’s biggest film industry and stood forth of many international celebrities from the world of film, television, literature, music and social media. 

"Prabhas has drawn attention to regional language films in India in a way not seen before. He has shown that Bollywood is no longer the boss and inspired everyone to release Indian movies in multiple languages simultaneously," ‘Eastern Eye’ entertainment editor Asjad Nazir said in a statement.

The credit for the shift also goes to OTT platforms for picking up content from different parts of India. OTT has fanned access to language cinema, something the filmmakers and audience could not freely sample before. We can't ignore the popularity and success of films like Drishyam 2, Lucifer, Maara and Konttho to name some.

Asked to comment on how the barriers between the industries are fading, Dhanush who features in Atrangi Re told PTI in an interview, “I was always against (the divide between) south and north Indian films. It is an Indian film and that is how it should always be.”

Another testament of blurring language boundaries in the entertainment industry was stamped by Twitter. Tamil cinema prevailed to swamp entertainment chatters on Twitter. Anticipation of the film Master independently made it one of the most talked-about movies in 2020, and the trend continued with its release in 2021. The Vijay starrer received massive love from fans and cemented its position on the list of the most Tweeted hashtags of 2021. Apart from this, the most Retweeted Tweet in 2021 in entertainment category was by actor Vijay’s unveiling the first look of his film ‘Beast’. 

Suddenly, the concept of pan-India accessibility -- nay, global accessibility -- has been rejigged. Bollywood stardom wasn't the only calling card for all-India superstardom.

Prominent names of cinema have a fresh formula to win the pan-Indian audience. They have learned that the divide between vernacular and national films can be obliterated. Not only regional stars are making their way to mainstream Bollywood but vice versa too. If Vijay Deverakonda is leading Bollywood film Liger and Samantha Ruth Prabhu is stumping everyone with her performance in The Family Man 2, Alia Bhatt and Ajay Devgn are appearing in RRR in addition to Katrina Kaif signing a film with Vijay Sethupathi. 

Addressing a gathering of filmmakers and film aficionados at the 52nd edition of the International Film Festival of India (IFFI) Union Minister for Information and Broadcasting Anurag Thakur said that it was possible today to take good regional content to national and international audiences. 

So are we inching towards a pan-India cinematic vision where vernacular and mainstream Indian cinema are sans language barriers? Too early to say but can't ignore the winds changing their course.