Kantara: Chapter 1: The Legend has predictably broken all records in its opening, and has amassed immense attention globally as well. It is the latest in the series of successful ‘pan-Indian’ films. Now that’s a term that has come to be widely used, like ‘Bollywood’ and its follow-ups Tollywood, Mollywood and now ‘Sandalwood’ (!!), that is the Kannada film industry.
Yes, the 2025 Kantara is set to become ‘Sandalwood’s biggest-ever hit!
Like Bollywood as a term is hated by all right-thinking people (including me!), ‘pan-Indian’, a term that mostly took birth from some Telugu writer, has also been condemned by many actors, filmmakers and critics. In an interview with Deadline Hollywood, RRR star NTR Jr said, “I hate referring to a film as ‘pan-Indian’, it sounds like a frying pan! We just mean it is a film that can travel into all the Indian languages.” Dulquer Salmaan once told the media, “The term really irks me. I just don’t like hearing it. I love that there is so much exchange of talent happening in cinema, it’s great, but we are one country. For example, I don’t think anyone says ‘pan-American.’” Kamal Haasan feels that ‘pan-Indian’ cinema as a concept always existed, and the term was simply a new name coined for it.
Prabhas (the Bahubali franchise) who was deemed “India’s first pan-Indian star” with Saaho, feels that the industry makes Indian and not ‘pan-Indian’ films. Actor Siddharth thinks that the term ‘pan-Indian’ was a “very disrespectful word” as its use was limited to non-Hindi films. Later, of course, Pathaan, Jawan and Animal were also termed “pan-Indian” as their dubbed South versions were immensely successful. But they did not come anywhere close to the South toppers in this department.
History
Time was when remakes from South to Hindi and vice-versa were common. Hindi films were also remade in Bengali et al (and vice-versa), while regional non-South movies were ‘turned into’ (so to speak) Hindi movies. The equation lasted also between non-Hindi Indian language films.
Later came the dubbed films, mainly from the South, like Appu Raja, Roja and more. Bilinguals had occasionally been there since the 1940s between Hindi and other languages (and rarely other combinations (but took off as a trend with Bahubali—The Beginning in 2015).
Bottomline
But, like a Sholay or Amar Akbar Anthony, pan-Indian films, unfortunately, happen and cannot be designed! A Kalki 2898 AD (2024) had to be declared a pan-Indian hit with hyped collections. Saaho underperformed even on its Telugu home terrain and was popular only (surprisingly!) in Bihar. Innumerable films, touted as pan-Indian, sank, sometimes even on their own language turf. Sye Raa Narsimha Reddy, both the Ponniyin Selvan films, Liger and more did not get the honor of being termed ‘pan-Indian’. Many a Rajinikanth film of late and even Kamal Haasan’s movies like Hindustani 2 (the first was dubbed and a Hindi as well as Southern hit in 1996) did not fare well across the nation.
And yes, like it or not, no non-South Indian film has become ‘pan-Indian’ since the term was ‘invented’ almost a decade ago. No Marathi, Gujarati, Punjabi, Bhojpuri or Bengali movie has ‘acquired’ this title for its performance across the nation’s box-office counters.
So, are we looking only at Southern movies?
Casting coups
The answer is, as of now, Yes! The list of South stars making it big in Hindi cinema is far bigger than ever (it began really in the 1950s, though Chandralekha, the South’s first Hindi film, was a blockbuster in 1948 with a completely Southern lead cast). What’s more, the lines between Telugu (the South’s market leader), Tamil, Kannada and Malayalam films have been completely blurred. Never mind if no Hindi producer today will put his money on a Hindi (originally) film with the South stars, as he would do from the 1980s on Kamal Haasan, Rajanikanth and more.
The advantage that bilinguals, ‘trilinguals’ and ‘quadri-linguals’ have is that massive production scales can be imagined when making a story primarily for home audiences and then enabling viewers from outside the state to see it with dubs in their languages, and also Hindi.
Producers propose, audience dispose!
But ‘planned projects’ and ‘proposals’ simply will not work. Take Sye Raa Narsimha Reddy (2019) again. It featured Chiranjeevi, Sudeep, Vijay Sethupathi and Jagapathi Babu along with voiceovers in their respective languages by Pawan Kalyan, Kamal Haasan and Mohanlal, a cameo by Amitabh Bachchan and a featured role for Ravi Kishan, who is a Bhojpuri superstar! It even had music by Amit Trivedi and the BGM by Mumbai’s Julius Packiam. The recent They Call Him OG had Emraan Hashmi and Kannappa (Telugu) had Akshay Kumar and (from Kerala) Mohanlal apart from Vishnu Manchu and Prabhas. Kalki 2898 AD itself had Amitabh Bachchan, Deepika Padukone and Disha Patani with Prabhas and Kamal Haasan.
On the other hand, the 2015 Bahubali—The Beginning became the first-ever dubbed Hindi film to enter the 100-crore club. It was actually the harbinger, very organically, of what became the pan-Indian film. In 2021, just after lockdown ended, we saw Pushpa: The Rise – Part 1 also reach that mark.
Meanwhile, KGF: Chapter 1 was also a hit in 2018 and a definite success in Hindi. And last but not least, a humble film, Kantara: A Legend did good business even in its Hindi version in 2022. When I went to watch this delightful drama after hearing a lot about it in the fourth week or so, I saw several children thronging the audience and loving it with cheers and claps!
In 2025, a small animation film originally in Telugu, Mahavatar Narsimha, has crossed Rs. 150 crore in Hindi alone, though made on a paltry budget (considering its worldwide revenue of about Rs. 300 crore or 30 billion!) of Rs. 4 billion.
So pan-Indian movies are not merely about big stars and budgets. It is the story that make them universally appealing, which usually means global endorsement as well. Though admittedly, as of now, most such movies have fallen into two genres (and their mix): action and period/retro times.
A ‘pan-Indian’ film is thus one that is typically marketed and released in multiple languages, including Telugu, Hindi, Tamil, Malayalam, Kannada and optionally other regional languages. Such films seek to resonate with a wide audience, transcending language and cultural barriers.
(According to The Times of India though, the first pan-Indian film was the 1959 Kannada movie, Mahishasura Mardini, dubbed and released in seven other languages!)
The Top Pan-Indian Films
Bahubali—The Conclusion (Telugu / 2017)
This is decidedly the leader, chronologically. The Prabhas-Rana Daggubati-Tamannaah Bhatia-Anushka Shetty-Ramya Krishnan sequel saw director S.S. Rajamouli scale up the narrative after the incredible reception to Bahubali—The Beginning. It became the first film to cross collections of Rs. 50 billion in Hindi, and it took a full eight years for a pure Hindi film to equal it—with Pathaan, Jawan and Animal, all in 2023.
The two Bahubali films marked a significant shift in the Indian film industry, redefining its demographic reach and appeal. And except for the touted figure of collections from China for Dangal, Bahubali 2… remains Indian cinema’s biggest earner to date.
RRR (Telugu / 2022)
Rajamouli did it again with his zanily dramatized tale of two freedom fighters. NTR Jr. and Ram Charan, with Ajay Devgn and Alia Bhatt coming in for significant cameos.
KGF: Chapter 2 (Kannada / 2022)
Released less than a month after RRR, with Sanjay Dutt and Raveena Tandon (who essentially are like character artistes today) coming in along with Yash and Srinidhi Shetty, the story (pivotally) of the underdog and his mother connected at a whopper level.
Pushpa 2: The Rule (Telugu / 2024)
The production budget was 25 percent more than the first part, but the income was 400 percent of the former! Pushpa 2 was a phenomenon, and obviously a third film in the franchise is being planned.
Mahavatar Narsimha (Telugu / 2025)
The incredible ‘smallie’ animation mythological soared to the skies, earning over 10 times its cost.
Kantara Chapter 1 (Kannada / 2025)
By all indications, this film is now set to join the list. The drama has been made at a budget of Rs. 125 crore vis-à-vis Rs. 16 crore for the first film, which returned Rs. 400 crore plus. It had action and mythology, but no big star!
Observations
- Today, apart from Prabhas, KGF’s Yash and Pushpa’s Allu Arjun and RRR’s Ram Charan and NTR Jr. are also enjoying pan-Indian fans. Missing out alone is Rana Daggubati, who had a negative role in the Bahubali franchise!
- Heroines have not really benefited from these movies, but for Rashmika Mandanna from the Pushpafranchise.
- Hombale Films (Vijay Kiragandur and Chaluve Gowda) have produced KGF 2 (and its prequel), Mahavatar Narsimha and the Kantara franchise!
- S.S. Rajamouli has directed the Bahubali franchise and RRR.
