Post the massive success of Sukumar’s Pushpa: The Rise in Hindi starring Allu Arjun there was this argument on social media all over about how South Indian films have taken over the Hindi film industry. 

There were already a lot of “Pan-Indian” films in the works, the success of Pushpa: The Rise in Hindi that released with zero promotions amplified that. 

More than a month later, Ravi Teja starrer Telugu film Khiladi was released in the dubbed Hindi version and met with a disastrous response. 

© Pen Studios

This week, besides Gangubai Kathiawadi, Tamil film Valimai released in Hindi as Valimai: The Power. Starring Ajith and directed by H Vinoth, the film took a record opening in Tamil and was expected to go the Pushpa way in Hindi but it eventually failed to find an audience and turned out to be a box office disaster. 

The film opened to a poor Rs 20 lakh and collected Rs 35 lakh on its second day. Over its four-day weekend, the action entertainer could only amass Rs 1.5 crore. 

Valimai: The Power has now joined the long list of pan-India flops that released in the last 7 years or so. 

© Zee Studios

There is this perception that audiences in the Hindi markets are now preferring South Indian films over Hindi ones but that is far from the truth. 

The reality is that in the last seven years only six South Indian films have worked in the Hindi belts. These include the two Baahubali films, Saaho, 2.0 (also starring Akshay Kumar), KGF (to an extent) & Pushpa: The Rise. 

© Mythri Movie Makers

On the other hand, there are over 10 noted pan-Indian films that flopped. 

While February was a disastrous month for dubbed Hindi films from the South Indian film industries, the month of March will see two major Telugu films releasing in Hindi. 

These include Prabhas starrer Radhe Shyam and SS Rajamouli’s RRR starring NTR Jr, Ram Charan, Alia Bhatt & Ajay Devgn. 

Both the films are expected to rock the box office across regions. 

© DVV Entertainment

In April, there is KGF: Chapter 2 that is expected to open big. Besides Yash, the film also stars Sanjay Dutt & Raveena Tandon.

View the full article