The Beat Report: Why film theatres sometimes shoo me away even after I book my ticket

In The Beat Report, Mint's journalists bring you unique perspectives on their beats, breaking down new trends and developments, and sharing behind-the-scenes stories from their reporting.

Dear reader,

How often do you get a phone call telling you that a film show you’d booked got cancelled, sometimes at just a couple of hours’ notice? Well, as a reporter covering the film industry, I’m quite used to it by now: at least once every few weeks, I sign up for a show (or film) only to get a polite cancellation call from the theatre citing “unavoidable technical issues”—euphemism for “the film had very few takers”.

A few months ago, however, I was in for a rude shock. I had not only driven all the way to the cinema but was comfortably ensconced in my chair, watching ads, when a couple walked up to me, insisting I was in their seat. I promptly showed them my ticket, and they backed off—only to return a few minutes later with an attendant, who calmly announced that while I was sitting in the right place, the show at that hour in that auditorium had been changed to accommodate a different film due to (you guessed it) unavoidable technical issues with the one I had booked.

The title in question was Mani Ratnam’s Tamil gangster drama Thug Life, which he co-wrote with actor Kamal Haasan, who also starred in the film. I was livid. There was no reason I should have had to drive all the way to watch a film that the theatre had been screening until the previous day, but had apparently decided against that morning. The manager, who had been summoned by then, was apologetic and insisted I watch something else. I didn’t want to, and I was more upset by the fact that they hadn’t cared enough to inform a ticket-paying patron that they had changed their plans.

“Ma’am, please understand, it may have been a slip-up since you were the only person in the theatre,” the man said, apologizing profusely.

That’s when it struck me. While it is common for small-budget films with no star value to be nudged out of shows and screens at top multiplex chains at the last minute, the pan-India movie trend—where far too many films from the South jumped on to the bandwagon to release dubbed Hindi versions with little appeal for northern audiences—had begun to meet the same fate.

The fading promise of pan-India cinema

Director S.S. Rajamouli’s two-part mytho-historical action-drama Baahubali, which opened the floodgates for southern films in the Hindi belt a decade ago, gave birth to what has since been termed the “pan-India” movie trend. These films, originally made by southern industries—primarily Telugu—are peppered with action, larger-than-life visual effects, and melodramatic storytelling.

It isn’t hard to see why they arrived at the right moment, rushing in to fill the void created by Bollywood post-2010, as its upmarket niche social dramas and biopics increasingly began speaking only to elite urban audiences.

After Baahubali, there were other success stories. I watched Allu Arjun-starrer Pushpa 2: The Rule and Kannada action drama KGF Chapter 2 in packed theatres. However, bona fide successes remain few, and far too many filmmakers have tried to cash in on the pan-India trend, churning out films that don’t justify their marketing spend.

This is a case of intention not matching design, according to experts. For one, not all southern stars command equal draw in the Hindi belt. Only the likes of Rajamouli—who followed up the Baahubali franchise with another hit, RRR—are known even in tier-II and tier-III North Indian towns, where audiences flock to cinemas for their films. Movies like Pushpa and KGF follow the commercial storytelling template with zero compromise, and their heroes have enough swag to appear aspirational in any small town.

Even Kantara (2022), originally filmed in Kannada—a relatively smaller industry—had the right flavour, writing, and marketing strategy to feel universal. Its release in the Hindi market didn’t appear like an afterthought, Mumbai-based film studio executives admit.

By contrast, many recent Tamil, Telugu, or Malayalam films—Mirai, a fantasy action superhero flick with mythological elements, for instance—retain an entirely South Indian tone and style, making them feel like little more than simple dubs.

Perhaps it is a matter of identifying strengths and sticking to what one does best. There is much for filmmakers to learn from southern industries, where a clutch of small- and mid-budget films helped keep the business afloat in 2024 even as several big-star vehicles crashed. The reason: They stayed low, appealed to their local audiences, and didn’t even aim to strike gold across geographies: think of movies like Tourist Family, Dragon, and Alappuzha Gymkhana in Tamil and Malayalam.

Despite limited marketing and relatively unfamiliar faces, these films drew audiences to theatres, signalling a shift in a traditionally star-driven ecosystem. This trend has also propelled a fresh crop of actors—Naslen, Mamitha Baiju, Sajin Gopu, Pradeep Ranganathan, Manikandan, and Teja Sajja—who are steadily building their fan followings in their region. Notably, none of these films were dubbed in Hindi or aggressively marketed in the North.

Finally, what undeniably helps many of these smaller films is reasonably priced tickets at southern theatres, which encourage viewers to take a chance on lesser-known titles instead of waiting for big-budget tentpoles. In the Hindi-speaking belt, by contrast, southern films are priced at astronomical levels, much like Bollywood titles. When you’re paying ₹500 for a ticket and ₹900 for a popcorn-and-cola combo, it’s easier to feel ripped off.

Last week, as I walked out of The Raja Saab, Baahubali star Prabhas’ three-hour-and-ten-minute horror-fantasy saga, feeling like I’d aged a few years, a man behind me summed it up perfectly:

“Bhai, dimaag kharab karne ka paisa khud de diya.” (I paid for my own ordeal.)

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