South Indian cinema offers innovation template to Hindi film industry

Just as India is celebrating the Golden Globe wins of Telugu film director, S.S. Rajamouli — Best Song for Naatu Naatu and the Best Film Critics Award - comes news of three Indian movies qualifying for the Oscars this year — Kantara, Chhello Show, and RRR. Of these three, Kantara and RRR represent the south Indian film industry. And the numbers continue to favour South Indian cinema.

Of all the movies breaking box office records in 2022, seven are from the South Indian film industry. Three movies from the south — RRR, Kantara (both Telugu films), and Kannada film, KGF: Chapter 2 entered the Rs12 billion+ circle in earnings. A lot of that success can be credited to their pan-India, nay pan-global appeal.

Playing catch-up

In recent years, a few movies laid the foundations for the universal acceptance of southern cinema. Baahubali: The Conclusion, the second part of the popular Baahubali series, earned Rs18.1 billion worldwide after its release in 2017. The runaway success of KGF: Chapter 1 in 2018, Pushpa: The Rise in 2021, and the critical acclaim earned by Malayalam movie, The Great Indian Kitchen, on OTT platforms, also released in 2021, introduced audiences across India to the magic of movies from the south.

In comparison, of all the Bollywood movies made in 2022, only three made it to the Top 10 coveted list in terms of earnings — Brahmastra – Part I: Shiva at Rs5 billion, Drishyam 2 at about Rs3.5 billion, and The Kashmir Files at about Rs3.4 billion.

Even a March 2022 Ernst&Young-FICCI report on consumer trends in entertainment revealed Bollywood’s pre-eminent position facing a stiff challenge from the combined might of the South Indian film industries (Telugu, Tamil, Kannada and Malayalam cinema). “In 2021, South Indian cinema generated three times the box office revenues of Hindi films, with a total of Rs24 billion,” it stated. Some of this success could be attributed to OTT platforms.

The OTT connection

Most experts will tell you that platforms such as Netflix and Amazon Prime introduced pan-Indian audiences to cinema from the south. Indian film critic, Anna MM Vetticad says, “During the pandemic, most turned to OTT for their fix of entertainment, and to get through monotonous days forced on us by Covid lockdowns. That’s when movies such as The Great Indian Kitchen, with its striking storytelling and stellar performances, drew in audiences.

“Writer-director Jeo Baby’s The Great Indian Kitchen (Mahaththaya Bharatiya Adukkala in Malayalam), is a great Indian film that captures an under-discussed horrific reality with astonishing accuracy, by merely replicating on screen what happens in millions of Indian households. It is in Malayalam, but the title reminds us that patriarchy knows no state borders.”

Next year, in early 2022 came another Malayalam blockbuster, in a unique superhero genre rarely experimented with before in Malayalam cinema. Minnal Murali, set in a village in Kerala, became a global sensation buoyed by Malayali actor, Tovino Thomas’ author-backed performance. The Basil Joseph-directed film was the third Indian movie to be listed in Netflix’s Global Top 10 list of non-English movies.

Rajamouli, whose Baahubali introduced India to the extravagance of movies from the south, is also the director of RRR. He says, “The south has a long tradition of storytelling. We have probably the oldest and most colourful stories to tell, and it has been a disappointment that our movies have not travelled beyond our borders. So, this southern cinema renaissance comes at the right time for us.”

Capturing Western audiences

What also changed the fortunes for the South Indian film industry was the pan-global acceptance of movies such as RRR and Kantara, going beyond Indian audiences to enthral cinemagoers in the West. “For many abroad, RRR, based on Hindu mythology and the freedom fighters that fought British colonialism, was their first encounter with Tollywood, the Telugu movie industry, or even with Indian films. What many have seen is a movie filled to the brim with over-the-top action sequences and sprawling dance numbers, and an energy that today’s Hollywood blockbusters seldom match. Motorbikes are juggled. Tigers are thrown,” says The New York Times critic, Nicolas Rapold. “Scenes of glorious excess make the screen hum with energy.”

Marvel directors, James Gunn and Scott Derrickson, who know a thing or two about over-the-top extravaganzas, both tweeted about catching the movie with their families and being blown away.

“Frankly, I didn’t expect this kind of reception from the West,” says Rajamouli. “I always thought that Western sensibilities are different from my kind of films. What worked for RRR was effects-heavy Hollywood-esque superhero characters.”

Kantara, on the other hand, is steeped completely in myth and spiritual practices in the tribal region of Karnataka. Not only is it positioned as No.1 in the list of India’s Current Top 250 Films that were released by IMDb, the movie also registered phenomenal growth at box office windows in North America and Australia, collecting 1 million dollars in North America and Australian $200,000 at Australia’s box office.

Rishab Shetty, writer, actor and director of Kantara, says, “The biggest factor behind the success of films from the south is their originality. Our movies come from the soil, they tell the story of our people, our mythology, and our folk tales. Across the world, stories rooted in the milieu they come from, told with certain extravagance and boldness, are appealing to cinemagoers. OTT gave us a global platform, and regional cinema was brave enough to experiment with the art of storytelling and not play it safe.”

In this scenario, can Hindi cinema make a comeback?

Many will tell you that the relationship between Bollywood filmmakers and their audiences looks less like the one between artists and their viewers, and more like the one between the powerful and those who idolise them.

Back to the people

“Hindi cinema makers have a certain condescension towards the audience. Many Hindi cinema actors cannot even speak the language,” says director, Anurag Kashyap. “During the pandemic, OTT platforms introduced Indian audiences to excellent regional and global cinema and content. When you see Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam films, they’re rooted in their culture, whether that’s mainstream or non-mainstream culture.”

In 2022, only five Hindi movies managed to enter the coveted Rs1 billion club. Producer and director, Karan Johar reflects, “Hindi filmmakers used to be the trendsetters once upon a time, way back in the 70s and 80s. Then, we began to repeat ourselves. After Hum Aapke Hain Koun (a hit romantic musical released in 1994), everyone, including myself, decided to jump on the bandwagon of love. We let go of all our roots from the 70s.”

That Hindi cinema no longer reflects the life and times of the audience it targets is a thought endorsed by several influential voices, among them actor and producer, Aamir Khan. “The only way for Bollywood to climb out of this black hole is to make good movies on topics that are relevant to the people,” says Khan. A filmmaker has the right to tell his story, but if you are making a movie on characters that find no resonance among the people, they are going to turn their backs to that movie.”

Ignoring the warning signs will only exacerbate the tough times for Hindi cinema.