‘You don’t set out to make a pan-Indian film, you can only choose a subject’
Rishabh Suri (HINDUSTAN TIMES; December 13, 2023)

Actor-filmmaker Prithviraj Sukumaran, noted for his roles spanning over 100 movies across languages, shares his perspective on the phenomenon of pan-Indian films. “You don’t set out to make a ‘pan-Indian film’ — you can only choose a subject you are excited about, make a film that justifies what’s on paper, and lose control once it releases,” says Sukumaran, who also has experience distributing Kannada hits like KGF - Chapter 2 and Kantara (both 2022) in Kerala.

Pointing towards directors such as S S Rajamouli and Prashanth Neel, architects of grand-scale projects such as RRR (2022)and upcoming Salaar (starring Sukumaran and Prabhas, which will be available in five languages), the actor adds, “They have set a dangerous precedent because people at corporate are thinking, ‘How do we make this film pan-Indian — you cannot! It was not just because Baahubali or KGF had a plethora of actors from various languages that they struck a chord, as we also have Kantara [that did well].”

Here, he acknowledges the foresight of an individual in the Hindi film industry who predicted this ‘pan-India’ craze long before it materialized: “I got a call from (filmmaker) Karan Johar in 2011, and he pitched this film called Bombay Talkies to me. Unfortunately, I couldn’t do it at that point because of commitments. I said, ‘It’s your film; you could have cast anyone from Hindi films!’ He replied, ‘At some point, Prithviraj, it will have to start happening.’ I credit him with saying that way back in 2011.”