Tollywood actors vie for Tamil market
Actors and producers are cashing in on the trend of making bilinguals in Tamil and Telugu.
When Telugu actors get a mass welcome
After tasting success with their dubbed versions doing well in Tamil Nadu, Tollywood stars and producers do not mind exploring a new trend — making bilinguals in Telugu and Tamil. The makers are ready to even announce it at the muhurat (initial pooja ceremony) itself!
Telugu directors shoot in both languages and the filmmakers make sure that the script has enough connectivity to Tamil audiences as well.
After Baahubali series’ massive reception in Tamil Nadu with box-office collection grossing more than Rs100 crore, T’town heroes are keen to work in films which have dual language possibilities. Mahesh Babu’s Tamil dubbed Telugu films have a decent market here. Now, he has gone one step ahead and is making his debut in Tamil with AR Murugadoss’ film Spyder.
A spy thriller with bio-terrorism as its central theme, the makers announced it as a bilingual on the day of pooja. A part of the film was shot in Chennai as well.
The film’s director AR Murugadoss says, “Mahesh Babu has a huge market in Telugu and I am known here in Tamil. Hence, bilingual films widen the business prospects. Moreover, the audiences want good content and they don’t mind watching a film which has entertaining elements like emotions, romance, comedy with rich production values — the language is not a barrier.”
On his part, Mahesh Babu states, “I know Tamil very well as I was born and brought up here. So, my dream of doing a straight Tamil film has come true with Spyder. I have also dubbed in my own voice for the Tamil version. Moreover, Kollywood has great talents and I loved working with them.”
The dubbed version of Balakrishna’s recent historical period film Gautami Putra Satakarni was also received well by Tamil audiences. Now, he has teamed up with KS Ravikumar for a film, which is yet to be titled.
Though it is a Telugu-specific film, it looks like Ravikumar has made the script in such a way that Tamil audiences will also enjoy it.
Balakrishna while attending the promo event of Gautami… had said, “I grew up drinking Tamil Nadu’s water! I am always attached to this state and am keen to make my entry in Kollywood soon.” KS Ravikumar has extensively shot the movie in Kumbakonam, which shows that the story commanded a location from TN.
Rana Daggubati (his market has gone high in Tamil after Baahubali) sees to it that every movie of his post Baahubali is being released in Tamil as well — be it Ghazi or the latest Nene Raju Nene Mantri as Naan Anaiyittal (the title is inspired from a super hit song from MGR’s blockbuster film Enga Veetu Pillai). He makes it a point to come from Mumbai/Hyderabad to aggressively promote his films in Chennai.
“It’s like a homecoming for me when I am in Chennai. I have done straight Tamil films like Arrambam, Bangalore Naatkal and I am looking forward to another film 1945 in Telugu and Madai Thirandhu in Tamil directed by director Sathyasiva,” quips Rana.
“Since the political thriller Naan Anaiyittal’s content is based on the philosophies of legendary actor-politician MGR, the Tamil version which got released on Friday is expected to reach the audience in a positive way,” feels Maheshwar who has watched the original.
Talking about how the present crop of actors are going all out to promote their movies in other languages, Sura, a trade analyst observes, “In the last few years, Tamil actors like Suriya, Karthi, Vishal and Dhanush, who enjoy a good business in Telangana and Andhra, have made it a practice to go to Hyderabad to endorse their Telugu versions. And more recently, the Tolly actors are taking a similar call and reaching to Tamil audiences by making their presence felt here. This trend is going in favour of them. Some of them try dubbing in their own voices which gives them additional leverage to expand their horizons.”
Suriya has gone one step ahead and promotes his films not only in Hyderabad but also in Vishakapattinam and Vijayawada.
Actor Manoj’s Naan Thirumba Varuven (Okkadu Migiladu) and few more films are in the pipeline. Though Prabhas’ Saaho is a bilingual in Telugu and Hindi, close sources say that the film will also appeal to Tamil movie-watchers. Work for Chiranjeevi’s next Uyyalawada Narasimha Reddy is happening in Pollachi. We hear that other Telugu stars like Naani, Naga Chaitanya, Ram Charan and Arjun have also decided to make in-roads into Kollywood. The more, the merrier!