Recent southern films fall out of favour in Hindi-speaking belt

Dubbed versions of southern films, especially those in Tamil and Telugu, appear to be losing their fizz in the Hindi-speaking belt.

- Lata Jha

Dubbed versions of southern films, especially those in Tamil and Telugu, appear to be losing their fizz in the Hindi-speaking belt. Recent titles, including Kamal Haasan-starrer Thug Life (Tamil) and Game Changer (Telugu) have performed below par, raking in less than a tenth of earlier blockbusters from the south.

With the exception of Pushpa 2 and Kalki 2898 AD, there haven't been any major dubbed hits in the past year. Experts said there is unnecessary hype over the dubbing trend and too many films have jumped on to the bandwagon without adequate content or marketing efforts.

The Hindi version of Mani Ratnam's Thug Life, released in June, made ₹1.56 crore. Kannappa, a Telugu-language Hindu epic starring Vishnu Manchu in the title role and an ensemble cast of Mohanlal, Prabhas, and Akshay Kumar earned ₹2.75 crore, according to data from Bollywood Hungama, a trade website.