Is pan-India appeal for southern films waning?

South Indian films, particularly Tamil and Telugu, saw a decline in their pan-Indian box office appeal in 2023, stark contrast to the success seen in the Hindi heartland in 2022. 

The past year did not see southern studios investing in aggressive marketing or distribution in north India, unlike that seen for RRR, KGF: Chapter 2, and Kantara, theatre owners said. Stars such as Rajinikanth, Vijay and Ajith anyway refrain from participating in marketing campaigns in these markets.

There could also be some fatigue with the South Indian action film template, as evident in the collections of Prabhas’ latest release Salaar which earned a little over ₹132 crore from its Hindi version, at last count.

According to media consulting firm Ormax, Tamil films have maintained their share of overall box office, from 16% in 2022 to 17% in 2023. Still, Telugu and Malayalam films have witnessed a drop of 3% and 2%, respectively compared with 2022. The dip has been more significant in the case of Kannada cinema, whose share dropped from 8% in 2022 to 2% in 2023.

“Southern studios and producers need to understand that they have to work consistently towards creating brands in the north. The audience here, that has a lot of options, cannot be taken for granted,” said Bihar-based independent exhibitor Vishek Chauhan said. 

'So films can’t simply be released based on strong commercial treatment, enough awareness has to be created through marketing and distribution," he added

While a few Tamil releases such as Vijay’s Leo and Rajinikanth’s Jailer did break out with decent numbers in the Hindi heartland, Chauhan said it is unlikely that the same would happen to more films without an aggressive push by the makers.

The absence of multiplex releases in North India due to demands for an eight-week OTT window further complicates the situation. 

However, trade experts emphasize that there is enough lacuna in the north when it comes to mass-market cinema and these southern films can yield excellent results with simple tactics such as the release of a teaser, trailer and songs in Hindi, fixing screen count in advance and social media marketing targeted towards small-town, single-screen audiences.

Independent trade analyst Sreedhar Pillai pointed out that hits like RRR and KGF either belonged to popular franchises or were helmed by established directors such as SS Rajamouli who are popular among Hindi audiences. 

“You can’t have a Rajamouli film releasing every year. Also, while southern films find it easy to sell satellite and digital rights, including for dubbed versions, not many actors are well enough to command draw in theatres,” Pillai added. 

Other than Rajinikanth, only a few younger names such as Allu Arjun, Yash and Jr NTR have found resonance with north Indian audiences, trade experts say.

The success of southern language cinema in 2021 and 2022 also had to do with the fact that the southern film industry got a headstart with production resuming early in several regions post covid. 

“A lot of their content was available quickly and there was an opportunity there. A lot of Hindi films, on the other hand, that were stuck or delayed, finally helped Bollywood regain its spot last year,” film producer, trade and exhibition expert Girish Johar said.