It’s fashionable to talk about pan-Indian cinema nowadays. Every filmmaker wants to make a film and then make it travel across the country through dubbing and aggressive promotion. In this new fad though, southern films travelled north, but not the other way round. It’s been a one-way street. And now, even that has come undone this year with the Rajinikanth-starrer Jailer. A massive hit in Tamil Nadu and other southern states, Jailer’s Hindi dub struggled to take off in northern regions. In other words, it was no Pushpa, Baahubali or Kantara. The same happened with Thunivu, Varisu, Master, Waltair Veerayya, and King of Kotha.
After the weak performance of his Pathaan in the south, Shah Rukh Khan’s Jawan is now aiming to become a pan-India crossover cinema.
“Pan-India films are a gamble that relies on hope and optimism,” says Amit Bhatia, a researcher at the media insights consulting firm Ormax Media.
So, Jawan isn’t solely relying on Shah Rukh Khan’s star power to achieve pan-India acceptance. Apart from Atlee’s southern power, the film boasts ‘Lady Superstar’ Nayanthara as a parallel lead. Not to forget, the presence of Vijay Sethupathi as an antagonist and the guest appearance of Deepika Padukone.
The film has already secured 7 lakh advance bookings across theatres in India, including national multiplexes and single-screen cinema halls, according to trade analyst Manobala Vijayabalan. This number ranks among the top five advance bookings ever for a film, alongside hits like Baahubali 2, Pathaan, and KGF Chapter 2, and it is growing by the minute. Cinema owners in Chennai predict Jawan may become the most successful Hindi release in Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh.
So, the question is this: Can Shah Rukh Khan do with Jawan what Rajinikanth couldn’t with Jailer and deliver a genuine pan-India success in 2023? The search for the next Pushpa is getting more breathless every Friday.
However, data reveals a different story.
Despite an increase in Hindi-dubbed versions of southern-language films — 6 in 2019, 23 in 2022, and 12 this year (January to June) — their box office performance has been underwhelming.
Out of 42 Hindi-dubbed releases from January 2020 to August 2023, only nine films have surpassed the lifetime box office collection of Rs 15 crore net in Hindi, according to Ormax Media. In an era where Hindi films like Pathaan and Brahmastra generate multi-crores in the same language, Rs 15 crore is a negligible collection in comparison. The same holds when Hindi films venture southward, dubbed in Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, or Malayalam.
Releasing a film in a Hindi-dubbed version often seems like a shot in the dark, with many films marketed poorly and Hindi trailers dropping just days before release. The Hindi-dubbed release of Telugu film Spy struggled for substantial distribution in major chains, despite having big stars on board.
It seems as if the aspiration (and hope) behind such releases is that they might become the next Pushpa: The Rise or Kantara — both of which flourished at the box office through word of mouth.
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Failing the crossover game
In most pan-India films, a megastar from one region attempts to break into other. Jawan offers an intriguing proposition, uniting major stars from different language industries along with their loyal regional audiences.
While integrating stars from various language industries isn’t new, the stakes are higher today. Unlike Sridevi, Kamal Hassan, Hema Malini, and Aishwarya Rai, most crossovers today have fallen flat, whether it is Ram Charan’s Bollywood debut Zanjeer with Priyanka Chopra, or Prithviraj Sukumaran’s Hindi debut in Aiyyaa with Rani Mukerji.
And although success in the era of mega-budget films like Jailer in Tamil or other southern languages is a given, the true measure of success for any ‘pan-India’ film lies in its ability to score box office numbers across all regions.
Jawan faces an unprecedented challenge, but it appears well-equipped to pack a punch. Alongside heavyweights like Nayanthara and Sethupathi, the film is directed by Atlee with music by Anirudh Ravichander.
With films like Gadar 2 (Hindi), Jailer (Tamil), OMG 2 (Hindi), and Dreamgirl 2 (Hindi) raking in multi-crore earnings, it’s evident that theatre-going cinephiles are hungry for engaging and entertaining content. PVR, for instance, recorded its highest-ever box office month in August, with helping hands from the enduring success of Rocky Rani Ki Prem Kahani (Hindi) and Oppenheimer (English) in July.
“We received nearly 190 lakh spectators in our theatres across the country in August,” says a PVR spokesperson.
(Edited by Prashant)