South steals the spotlight
Financial Express Chennai|December 28, 2024
Hits from Hindi film industry in post-Covid era have been fewer and far between
VIVEAT SUSAN PINTO

THREE YEARS AGO, a line from the Allu Arjun-starrer Pushpa: The Rise went viral, forcing cine-goers to take note. Pushpa flower nahin, fire hain were among dialogues that scorched the box office, sparking off a trend: The rise of south films.

In the three years since the first installment of Pushpa (in December 2021), the craze for south movies has grown significantly. In 15 days of its release on December 5, Pushpa 2 crossed the ₹1,000-crore mark in box office collections in India, with around 60% coming from the Hindi version and the rest from south Indian languages including its language of origin Telugu.

If one takes a deeper dive at the trend over the last three years, then three south films have crossed the ₹1,000-crore mark within a fortnight. This includes KGF: Chapter 2 and RRR in 2022 and Kalki 2898 AD in 2024. 2023 was a year when Bollywood struck back with Shah Rukh Khan's Pathaan and Jawan doing over a ₹1,000 crore in earnings within a fortnight.

"This underscores the craze of south films in Hindi-speaking states," Komal Nahta, trade analyst, said. Distributors and exhibitors couldn't agree more.

This story is from the December 28, 2024 edition of Financial Express Chennai.

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This story is from the December 28, 2024 edition of Financial Express Chennai.

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