Mumbai’s Bollywood may eclipse the south Indian film industry, but when it comes to making big-budget movies, they seem to have a penchant for setting a record down south.
The most expensive movie ever made in India was 2010 Tamil film Enthiran (Robot), starring superstar Rajnikanth, which cost an estimated Rs1.5 billion (Dh86.7 million). But Bahubali, the Telugu film releasing this weekend, has already cost Rs2.5 billion at the post-production phase. Producers were unable to confirm the final number at the time of going to press.
Just to put it into perspective, the most expensive Hollywood film was 2011’s Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, which had a budget of $375 million (Dh1.4 billion). It made $1 billion at the global box office. Enthiran earned Rs2 billion worldwide.
Bollywood made $565 million in box office revenues in 2013 according to auditing firm Deloitte. During the same year, south Indian films, which include films from Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Kerala, made $468 million.
