The Rise Of South Indian Cinema

In a cracking start to the week, Indians across the world erupted in celebration as Naatu Naatu, the popular track from the action-packed film 바카라�RRR바카라�, made history by becoming the first movie from the country to win the Academy Award for best original song. A similar feat that saw 바카라�The Elephant Whisperers바카라� winning best documentary short film gave the country two Oscar-winning films in one night. 

While Indians did win Oscars previously, this was the first time an Indian production and film won the Academy Award. 바카라�The Slumdog Millionaire바카라� that won the Best Original Song in 2009 was a predominantly British production.

The Naatu Naatu fever has gripped people of all ages all over the world who shook their legs to the tunes in videos that have millions of views on YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok. However, the ensemble that performed the foot-thumping choreography on the stage that night did come under fire as neither the choreographers for the dance were of Indian descent nor were the dancers, which many said was a missed opportunity for the community and the Academy that has been batting for inclusivity.

The other Indian production that made a global impact was the Tamil documentary 바카라�The Elephant Whisperers바카라�. The 42-minute film not only touches upon a heart-touching story of a bond between animal and human and serves as a shining example of how we can continue to coexist, but also shines light on Indian culture and long-forgotten values, and speaks of conservation in the most positive and hopeful light.

Although the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin felicitated the original caretaker couple Bomman and Bellie along with young elephants Raghu and Ammu, critics were quick to point out that the win only put the focus on the makers of the film and pushed the original story of the couple into the backseat.

Despite all the criticism, their victory has achieved something unprecedented, with some of SS Rajamouli바카라�s old work being re-released in American theatres and foreign tourists flocking to the Theppakudu Elephant Camp to see the Oscar-winning elephant.

Last year, in our 30 May 2022 issue, we at Outlook looked at the surge of such Southern films and how Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, and Malayalam films swept aside Bollywood바카라�s carefully manicured reputations, budgets, and notion of invincibility. 

The issue titled 바카라�Smashing South바카라� explored how Bollywood chose to ignore the pan-India appeal of dubbed South Indian movies and faced the brunt of it at the box office with the success of films such as Bandreddi Sukumar바카라�s 바카라�Pushpa: The Rise바카라� (2021), SS Rajamouli바카라�s Telugu venture 바카라�RRR바카라� (2022), Prashant Neel바카라�s Kannada actioner, 바카라�KGF Chapter 2바카라� (2022).

Outlook also looked at how the dubbing of South Indian films into other South-Indian languages worked as a key to access the countrywide market. SV Srinivas writes how films like the Prabhas-starrer 바카라�Radhe Shyam바카라�, which, despite its commercial failure, served as a good example of the emerging model as it was simultaneously released in Telugu, Hindi, Tamil, and Malayalam and made between Rs 300-500 crore. 

We also looked at how the influx of internet TV and the expansion of indigenous OTT platforms catering to regional cinema content allowed the Southern film industry to compete with Bollywood. In fact, Netflix scored a global blockbuster with 바카라�RRR바카라� which was in the global top 10 films in as many as 60 countries at one point of time.

The issue also looked at the content of South-Indian films and how the industry tells stories that establishes an instant connection with the audience. A film critic noted in the issue that in the past, people in smaller towns were the core audience for the Hindi film industry and the films of yesteryear catered to them. 

바카라�Bollywood has now become an industry of egoists,바카라� the critic said. 

Keeping in mind the success of the industry at the Oscars, we are revisiting some of these stories of the rise of popular South Indian cinema in the pan-Indian market.