An historical perspective –
Bollywood has been an ever growing and ever changing industry. Due to its humongous nature it has to constantly draw inspiration from various other walks of life, and frequently from regional film industries. Historically, Bollywood has been seen to draw its inspiration from the Bengali film industry and has seen legendary classics been made this way. The trend has not yet come to an end, in fact it is thriving day by day. The current trend seems to be action movies with an element of fun in it, and this trend seems to have been perfectly taken over by the south Indian film industry. The south Indian films is of course action based, but the action is executed in such a fun manner that it almost becomes impossible for the audience not to enjoy it. Because of their perfection and fun element even south Indian films dubbed in Hindi have been quite a success and at times even a hit among the Bollywood moviegoers. Thus it is natural for Bollywood to incline towards drawing inspiration from the down south movie industry.
The effect continues:
In the last couple of years, a number of films from the south Indian film industry have been remade in Bollywood. Recently the Bollywood seems to be soaking in the flavor of the South India with either the films being a remake of some south Indian hit or with actors and directors from down south making their glamorous entry in Bollywood.
The first among such inspired films is “Ramaiya Vasavaiya”, which is based on the southern super hit NUVVOSTANANTE NENODDANTANA, which marked the directorial debut of the southern superstar Prabhudeva. Interestingly he is the one who will be directing the Bollywood version as well. The location of the film is set in Punjab, a stark difference from the previous setting of south India. It will be interesting to see how the director is able to harmonize the film story line in a completely different environment. The film reintroduces Shruti Hassan and casts debutante Girish Kumar as its hero. The fresh flavor of the film is supposed to be drawing the audience towards it.
Next in line is Rohit Shetty’s “Chennai Express” starring Shahrukh Khan and Deepika Padukone. The film trailer has drawn a lot of attention with Deepika’s heavily accented Hindi and Shahrukh Khan’s south Indian attires and dances. He had created quite a stir in his role as a south Indian in his erstwhile movie Ra One and is thought to weild his magic wand for this one as well.
The third significant film in line with particular attention to south Indian locations and events is “Madras Café”. The film has been directed by Shoojit Sircar and stars none other than John Abraham. It is argued to be one of the first films that tries to represent the mammoth event of Indian Army’s invasion of Sri Lanka and tries to give it an authentic cinematic representation,
Conclusion :
The trend of films with a South Indian flavor is here to stay, however the only speculation is that whether Bollywood is able to retain its own authentic flavor in the process. The South Indian films have mesmerized the audience and this is truly a fantastic fact that known filmmaker could ever avoid, and who else could format a South Indian film better than the local directors and actors. And this in one of the primary reasons why the South Indian actors and directors are flocking in huge numbers to Bollywood and recreating their magic. The fairy tale continues and so does the success of the so called “South Indian tadka”.