Many producers who have worked primarily in Hindi cinema for years are gradually expanding into regional films, due to their cost-effectiveness and greater potential for investment recovery.
While Boney Kapoor has already made three films with Tamil star Ajith, Saregama-owned boutique studio Yoodlee Films is working in Punjabi, Marathi and Malayalam cinema.
Producers say star remuneration has gone up in Bollywood along with production and marketing budgets, making them more cost-effective than regional films.
Furthermore, the fact that over-the-top (OTT) platforms are actively searching for regional content adds to the possibilities of realization of these films through the sale of digital rights.
Regional films are also doing better overseas, and industries are known to be more disciplined and methodical.
Siddharth Anand Kumar, vice president of film and television, Saregama India, owner of Yoodlee Films, said, “The next phase of growth (in content consumption), both on the theatrical and OTT front, will come from regional languages.”
Kumar said the budget for regional theatrical film projects is much lower than for Hindi, and star remuneration is far more rational, leading to a healthier and more efficient filmmaking ecosystem.
Also, unlike Bollywood stars who are seeing major ups and downs in their box office fortunes, regional stars are more frequent fans.
Yoodlee Films released the Nivin Poly-starrer Padavettu last week. It also has a Punjabi comedy titled Oye Makhna scheduled for next week and will enter Telugu and Kannada cinema next year.
Noting that the overall investment is low, the losses are also minimal, if a regional film doesn’t work, said Marathi filmmaker Akshay Bardapurkar, who also feels technicians and VFX experts, currently have a massive demand for glasses. There is a lot of demand because of the demand. South is better.
Kanupriya A. Head of Business Affairs and Senior Producer at Locomotive Global Media, a production house. Iyer said awareness regarding regional content is generally at the highest level.
“This is true for films intended for both theatrical and OTT consumption. This has resulted in producers being able to identify whether a story would be better suited for both its appeal as a regional language film and the commercial market It’s an organic strategy based on consumer trends,” Iyer said.
Apart from actors and technicians charging a premium in the Hindi industry, regional cinema also benefits producers, the overall fraternity used to better schedule projects and an average actor five to six films a year. says Vaibhav Modi, founder-director at Victor Tango Entertainment, a production house.
“The number of single-screen theaters is higher in the South, and ticket prices are lower, which changes the economics of the whole unit. Furthermore, audiences are not as fragmented as they are in the North because all demographics are able to visit theaters, making it more profitable for the manufacturers,” Modi explained.
To be sure, it’s not always smooth sailing.
Working in smaller regional industries like Punjabi or Marathi also means there are only a few stars who can bring in returns, which are often limited, when compared to the strong box office numbers seen in Hindi or South India.
It is also difficult to enter the market for Hindi producers who are not fully familiar with the ecosystem.
“However, the benefits outweigh the challenges,” Kumar said.
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