SOUTHERN DHAMAKA

This was the decade the South Indian film caught the national imagination and OTT showed viewers what choice looked like

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Could the Badshahs of Bollywood be getting old?

That was a question we grappled with, as the three Khans—Shahrukh, Aamir and Salman—turned 50 in 2015.

But then if Amitabh Bachchan, 20 years their senior, could still be going strong with Piku in 2015, Pink in 2016 and Kalki 2898 AD in 2024, why not the trio? And so Aamir gave us a Dangal in 2016, SRK double delighted with Pathan and Jawan in 2023, and Salman tripled the excitement with Bajrangi Bhaijaan (2015), Sultan (2016) and Tiger Zinda Hai (2017).

But it wasn’t the Bollywood film that first stormed the Rs 1,000 crore club—that honour went to three films from the South—Baahubali: The Conclusion (2017), KGF: Chapter 2 (2022) and Pushpa 2: The Rule (2024), besides the hugely popular RRR (2022). Dubbed versions had long conquered the language barrier; in scale, audacity and epic proportion, the Hindi heartland had seen nothing like a southern blockbuster before.

Almost overnight, Prabhas, Allu Arjun, Yash, Ram Charan became household names across the country as did directors like Chandramouli. This was also the moment when the rest of the country woke up to the brilliance of Malayalam cinema, captivated by the simple yet powerful storytelling of films like Angamaly Diaries (2017), Kumbalangi Nights (2019),