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Directors, actors and other film technicians continued to light up the Indian film industry, with at least four blockbuster hits in 2023, continuing their winning streak in 2022, when it witnessed the success of KGF Chapter-2 (made by Kanada director Prashant Neel) and RRR (by Telugu director SS Rajamouli). With a formidable line-up, including Pushpa-2, the year 2024, too, looks very promising for the South Indian film industry.
All four movies — Shahrukh-starrer Jawan (by Tamil director Atlee Kumar), Rajni-starrer Jailer (by Tamil Director Nelson Dilipkumar ), Ranbir Kapur-starrer Animal (by Telugu director Sandeep Reddy Vanga) and Prabhas-starrer Salaar (by Prashant Neel) surpassed the ₹700-crore mark.
The year also saw MM Keeravani and Chandrabose receiving the Oscar Award for the Best Original Song (Naatu Naatu in Telugu) for RRR. While Jawan collected more than ₹1,000 crore, Animal, the controversial film that became a sensational hit across geographies, is inching towards to breach the ₹1,000-crore mark.
It is not just film directors from the South, but film actors — Rajnikanth, Prabhas, Rashmika Mandanna and music composers Anirudh Ravichaner (Jailer and Jawan) and Ravi Basrur (Salaar) — received applause for their background music.
“I loved how Sandeep used those cliches as mere premises to create unique never-before-seen scenes and also presenting their content in a never-heard-before or experienced way, thus completely exposing the outdated standards of conventional film makers,” said film producer-director Ramgopal Verma, commenting on Vanga’s Animal movie.
“You completely shattered every rule of what all conventional filmmakers believed from the point of time the professional camera was invented,” he said.
The film received both bouquets and brickbats for violent portrayal of the lead role or the alpha-male (a dominant being in a social group).
Film analyst Taran Adarsh said that Animal shattered some records and became the biggest first ‘7-day’ total for a film released on working day.
Atlee, known for his high-octane action films down South, made his ‘pan-India’ debut with Jawan, giving Shahrukh Khan the second consecutive ₹1,000-crore film in a calendar year. The third film of Shahrukh, Dunki, released in the third week of December, however, had failed to generate interest.
Salaar hit the screens a day after Dunki had raised huge expectations as it is the first film for Prashant Neel after the blockbuster KGF Chapter 1 and Chapter 2. It’s an important film for Prabhas as three of his films fared badly at the box-office after the stupendous success of the two Bahubali films.
The film was received so well by the audience that it crossed the Rs 500-crore collections mark in just six days.
Nelson Dilipkumar drew Mohan Lal (Malayalam hero) and Shivraj Kumar (Kannada) to make ‘Jailer’, where the vintage Rajnikanth regained the lost ground.
Outlook
The outlook for technicians from the South looks promising in 2024, too. Sukumar’s (Telugu director) sequel of Pushpa (Allu Arjun-starrer) is slated for summer release, while Jr NTR-starrer Devara (made by Telugu director Koratala Siva) is also scheduled for a summer release. Rajamouli is beginning the production work for his upcoming project with Telugu actor Mahesh Babu in 2024.
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