South Indian films have been a real deal in capturing significant display as well as dominating over-the-top (OTT) viewership throughout the outbreak years of 2020 and 2021. And in 2022, you’ll see it grow even stronger, becoming much greater than Bollywood in each and every aspect. The Bollywood viewer now appears to become more acquainted with localized materials than it was previously.
The big success of Allu Arjun’s recent film Pushpa: The Rise in northern India, clear evidence of changing circumstances and tastes, has established India as the new hub of cinema. Bollywood was the big brother for a few years in the past, whereas regional film battled to establish a foothold, at least in the context of economic viability. In terms of finances, accessibility, and potential earnings globally, regional cinema was significantly lesser than Bollywood films. However, the situation has altered significantly, and more big pictures are expected to be launched in 2022, riding the fresh wave.
The Telugu film industry has a 29 % box office hold (for the years 2020 and 2021 combined), far ahead of Hindi Movies, which has seen its share drop to 27 % currently. Pushpa grossed more than Rs 350 crore at the theatres, making it one of the most acclaimed Telugu movies of all time on a national scale. What was even more remarkable was that Pushpa: The Rise triumphed over Kabir Khan’s 83, featuring Ranveer Singh and Deepika Padukone, a movie that had everything screaming for it.
KGF shattered all Kannada movie industry milestones. The Kannada movie K.G.F: Chapter 1 was the greatest of all times. It also received 2 awards for the 66th National Film Awards. The film made 25 crores on the first day, which was the largest launch in Kannada film history. KGF Chapter 1 surpassed the 100-crore threshold before the conclusion of the week. After a total of 100 days of screenings, the film was licensed to OTT network Amazon Prime Video for a total of 250 crores.
According to cinema researcher Selvaraj Velayutham, the Southern movie business enlarged the Indian psyche by providing greater variety, new storylines, and innovative methods of still being Indian. Bollywood began to appear phony and out-of-touch, and it began to speak to a tightly defined pan-Indianness that was limited to the North.
