Chiranjeevi, Salman Khan-starrer ‘Godfather’ to release for Dussehra

Telugu film star Chiranjeevi’s latest project Godfather that also features Salman Khan will release in cinemas for Dussehra 2022. The film co-stars Nayanthara and has been directed by Mohan Raja.

The year 2022 will see several actors breach linguistic and geographical borders to debut in films, not in their native tongues.

While south Indian actors like Vijay Deverakonda, Vijay Sethupathi and Rashmika Mandanna will be seen in Hindi films, Bollywood stars Alia Bhatt, Kriti Sanon and Deepika Padukone are working in what are primarily Telugu language films. The transition is part of the move to create films for pan-India audiences made either by Bollywood or southern film studios but to be released in multiple dubbed languages for reach across markets.

While Hindi film actors have realised the appeal of these large-scale southern films, south Indian actors are also keen to look beyond their core base. Prabhas’ Radhe Shyam, Adipurush and the untitled film with Padukone, Deverakonda’s Liger produced by Karan Johar and SS Rajamouli’s RRR are examples of titles that have seen or will see actors crossing over to other languages.

SS Rajamouli’s Baahubali franchise had shown the way for Telugu and Tamil films to penetrate into the Hindi heartland including small towns in states like Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, trade experts say and more recent films have built on the trend. Released late December, the dubbed Hindi version of Allu Arjun’s Pushpa: The Rise-Part One, had made over ₹100 crore, with Maharashtra and Gujarat driving the business. This was Arjun’s first release in the Hindi market and had released without any marketing or promotional buzz.

While southern actors like Rajinikanth and Kamal Haasan had appeared in Hindi films or bilinguals even earlier, the attempts remained few and far between with little box office success in the north.