2022: The year of south cinema

From the highest revenue earned at the box office to global glory – it was a record-breaking year for south cinema on all counts

The year 2022 truly belongs to the south Indian film industry, with two films raking in over `1,000 crore, and quite a few inching towards the ` 500 crore mark. It was undoubtedly a landmark year, with the south industry even overshadowing its Bollywood counterparts. Add to this the fact that these south films have and still are continuing to break records, and garnering accolades not just pan-India, but globally. The latest being RRR that has earned itself two nominations at the Golden Globes and made it to the Oscar nominations shortlist. K.G.F. Chapter 2, RRR, Vikram and Ponniyin Selvan (PS-I) were also the most-watched movies at cinemas this year, with the highest number of tickets sold, according to an entertainment ticketing company’s report, with K.G.F. selling most tickets on the weekend as compared to any other film.
This is a trend that’s been a long time coming. In 2021, south Indian cinema generated three times the box office revenues of Hindi films, with a total of `2,400 crore, according to the March 2022 EY-FICCI report. Many trace the origins to the post-Baahubali phenomena, when Prabhas became a nationwide sensation following the release of the film in 2017. This was followed by the post-OTT boom in consumption of content across the nation.
While it’s natural to pit south cinema’s success against Bollywood’s many dismal outings at the box office in 2022, K.G.F. star Yash feels otherwise. “Don’t disrespect Bollywood for this one year where south films have performed better,” the superstar said recently, adding, “This is just a phase. Bollywood has taught us so much. It is time to forget the north-south divide and respect all film industries. Instead of fighting about which industry is great, one should make good films, have good infrastructure, build good theatres. That is when the world will truly appreciate and say, ‘India has arrived’.”

• International OTTs saw 60-70% rise in subscription over the pandemic
• Local platforms with more desi and regional content saw over 80% rise in subscriptions
• With 45M active subscribers in India alone, OTT is set to become a `10,000-cr industry by 2025.

2020-21: the great Malayalam boom on OTT
Back in 2020, the billion-dollar cinema industry was brought to its knees by an omnipresent virus. As industries panicked over the uncertainty of the future of cinema itself, the Malayalam film industry arrived as a ray of hope with hit OTT content. Among the south films that shifted focus to the south were – C U Soon (Malayalam), Joji (Malayalam), Malik (Malayalam), Hridayam (Malayalam), Kaduva (Malayalam), The Great Indian Kitchen (Malayalam), Kurup (Malayalam), Virus (Malayalam), along with Jai Bheem (Tamil), Soorarai Pottru (Tamil), Kaithi (Tamil); Super Delux (Tamil), Jersey (Telugu), etc.

2022: NO MORE WOODs?
The rising popularity of south cinema has made Bollywood move beyond its comfort zone and blend in with regional languages. The biggest examples being Salman Khan’s Telugu debut with Chiranjeevi’s GodFather, and Sanjay Dutt and Raveena Tandon’s Kannada debut with KGF 2 in 2022. Is this the end of the ‘woods’ and the beginning of the Indian film industry?



2017: The Baahubali phenomenon
Several trade experts have labelled the rise of south cinema as ‘the post-Baahubali phenomenon’.
SS Rajamouli – who directed the two Baahubali instalments, that released in 2015 and 2017 – said in an interview that Hindi films had stopped catering to the mass audience, who started watching dubbed south films online. “Unknowingly, we were building a big fan base for action films for a long time. And when Baahubali landed,
everything exploded.”