When we talk about Indian films in general, South Indian films are obviously less popular than Bollywood! There are many factors to discuss in this issue, including budgets and star values in Bollywood. But nothing to worry about! A recent report by a leading website says Bollywood seems to be losing its loyalists nowadays, since people in the North now prefer to watch regional movies with substance, irrespective of language.
The report states that Marathi, Tamil and Malayalam movies have emerged as some of the real box office winners in Mumbai, the hub of Hindi cinema. "We prefer to watch a good regional film with subtitles, rather than a bad Hindi movie. I can't understand Malayalam, but I went for the film because it got great reviews," it quoted a filmgoer as commending.
Mammootty starrer Katha Parayumbol, which is now remade as Kuselam in Tamil, as Kathanayakudu in Telugu and Billo Barber in Hindi, became the first Malayalam hit film in a long time in Mumbai. It ran for over two months. Kamal Hassan's Dasavathaaram is still running in theatres; most shows are running to at least 60-70% capacity.
A film critic commented that these regional films were working well, not just because of Hindi films doing badly, but because they were offering better quality compared to Hindi films. "We are looking at releasing many regional films; theycontribute immensely to our collections," a theatre owner said.
The coming weeks await numerous big starrer non-Hindi films like Galgale Nighale and Baap Re Baap in Marathi, Kuselan in Tamil and Parunthu in Malayalam. So, it is evident that South Indian films are alive and doing well up North too.
