Bollywood faces challenge from South

The phenomenal pan-India success of movies such as Baahubali, RRR, KGF and Kantara appear to have emboldened southern producers to now consider releasing their films on major festivals such as Diwali and Eid as well as long weekends, which have typically been the preserve of Bollywood flicks.

- Lata Jha

Their rising popularity in the Hindi belt means southern films are threatening Bollywood in its own backyard.

In April, for instance, Kannada star Yash, best known for the KGF franchise, will release a new film called Toxic that will compete not just with another southern film, The Raja Saab starring Prabhas, but also Bollywood's Sunny Deol-starrer Jaat and Rajkummar Rao's comedy drama Bhool Chuk Maaf, all of which will arrive to cash in and clash on a host of holidays.