From Samantha to Naga Chaitanya, meet the South Indian stars headed to Bollywood

There was a time when you’d speak of Indian cinema and people would immediately think you were talking of Bollywood. This is no longer the case. Using their newfound recognition to catapult themselves to the mainstream are a number of regionally well-known stars. Here’s a look at some of them:

Samantha, who was last seen in the streaming series 'The Family Man 2', is working on a Bollywood debut. The project, produced by ‘Pink’ star Taapsee Pannu, is a thriller.

Telugu star Naga Chaitanya was personally enlisted by actor Aamir Khan in 'Laal Singh Chaddha', the Bollywood remake of 'Forrest Gump', after being impressed by his acting prowess.

'Pushpa' actress Rashmika Mandanna is excited about her role alongside Sidharth Malhotra in the spy thriller 'Mission Majnu'. The plot, inspired by real life, is close to her heart. She explained, "'Mission Majnu' gave me the opportunity to transcend my boundaries. My heart feels happy to know that I started my journey in Hindi cinema with this film and with these beautiful people."

Vijay Deverakonda is getting fighting fit for his stint as a MMA fighter in Karan Johar's 'Liger'. In it, the ‘Arjun Reddy’ star will be playing a rags to riches underdog – and he’ll be sharing the stage with actor Ananya Panday and boxing legend Mike Tyson. Talk about a breakthrough act.

Actor Raashii Khanna’s credit roll has a number of successful Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam films, and now she’s working on an action movie called ‘Yodha’ that also stars Sidharth Malhotra and Disha Patani. Khanna will also making her Hindi streaming debut soon opposite Shahid Kapoor.

Telugu actor Bellamkonda Sai Sreenivas will make his Hindi movie debut with the remake of director SS Rajamouli’s 2005 action film ‘Chatrapathi’. Filmmaker V V Vinayak will take on the remake. In the 2005 film, South Indian superstar Prabhas played the lead as a young man named Sivaji/Chatrapathi who searches for the family he was separated from.