Crossover stars across Indian film industries will tap bigger audiences than ever before, says Siddharth Anand Kumar

The growing influence of Prabhas, Vijay Deverakonda and Fahadh Fasil on Hindi film audiences has led to an increasing trend of partnerships between the film industries in the north and south. 

The forthcoming Ayan Mukherjee multi-starrer Brahmastra (2022) will feature Telugu actor Nagarjuna Akkineni alongside Ranbir Kapoor, Alia Bhatt and Amitabh Bachchan. Another film with a massive buzz is RRR (2021) an upcoming Telugu period drama, which will star Alia Bhatt. KGF: Chapter 2 led by Kannada superstar Yash will also have Sanjay Dutt playing the antagonist, along with Raveena Tandon. Another Kannada actor Rashmika Mandanna will star with Siddharth Malhotra in Mission Majnu, while Karan Johar will be producing Liger with Vijay Deverakonda and Ananya Panday.  

Siddharth Anand Kumar, vice president, TV & films, Saregama, thinks this trend of cross-pollination is global. He added, "In Hollywood too, it is becoming increasingly essential to have a diverse star cast to attract a global audience. Whether it is British Indian star Simone Ashley in the Netflix series Bridgerton or Maitreyi Ramakrishnan in the coming-of-age comedy Never Have I Ever — there is a strong case being built for the inclusion of actors from across nations. The likes of Saeed Jaffrey and Om Puri had certainly paved the way for the current crop of Indian actors who appear in Hollywood commercial projects.

Irrfan Khan, of course, could make even a small budget film like The Lunchbox (2013) run to packed theatres in the US. So even the biggest of industries across the world are realizing that they cannot be insular and have to tap various demographics to succeed."

This, Kumar infers, is happening in India too. He adds, "We are finally seeing South Indian industries and Hindi cinema truly synergising to unify a bigger fan base than ever. It is a very healthy trend because it makes storytelling more diverse and melts regional and cultural barriers. The audience for such films is growing beyond belief."

Kumar added that this is the practice at Yoodlee, Saregama's film wing. He said," At Yoodlee too, we are making films in Marathi, Tamil, Malayalam, and other languages because the audience only wants to watch good content across the spectrum now. That is the only demand and content creators are realigning their casting choices accordingly."