Yes, 2023 has turned out to be a great year for Hindi films, with multiple hits coming in. But a crucial aspect related to films also underwent a sea change — we saw biggies turning to the south states for mega events, some deciding not to promote their film at all (we are looking at you, Shah Rukh, for Pathaan), and some (again, SRK) heavily promoting the film abroad. But the most significant evolution observed was the industry’s pivot towards engaging with the lucrative Southern markets. 

Considering the tough competition regional language films give to Hindi films, it was only a natural step for us to explore the South markets. Makers of Shah Rukh’s Jawan realized that for a film to be called pan-Indian, it definitely needs to be accepted in those states. And hence, they organized a live show at Sai Ram Engineering College in Chennai, with the entire cast in attendance.

Varun Gupta, the founder of Max Marketing and the brain behind the promotions of almost all big films in the northern belt, including Animal and Adipurush, explains, “Actors like SRK and Ranbir (Kapoor) need no introduction, but they need to grow an audience base in the South. The idea with Animal was that the Hindi-speaking audience loves Ranbir; they would love to watch him in a never-before-seen avatar. But audiences in different languages might not have seen all their films.”

A monumental shift was witnessed with the film Animal introducing an unprecedented pre-teaser marketing strategy previously unseen in Hindi cinema. The film gained support from renowned personalities like (filmmaker) S S Rajamouli and (actor) Mahesh Babu, indicating a collective industry effort towards extending its influence beyond conventional boundaries.

But Gupta feels not every film needs to practice this: “For me, as a marketing person, my job is limited till the opening weekend; I need to market the film in a way that people come in the first three days; after that, the content has to work. I am very proud that despite Adipurush not doing well ultimately, it still opened at around Rs. 37 crore.”

G Srinivas Rao, Managing Director of Shreyas Media (which is responsible for almost all promotions done in the Southern states), echoes Gupta’s sentiments, emphasizing the immense untapped potential of the Southern markets for Hindi filmmakers. He highlights the impact of localized promotions, citing instances like Brahmāstra: Part One – Shiva (2022), which ventured into Vizag, Andhra Pradesh with large-scale events, targeting diverse audience segments.

Producer Ramesh Taurani, whose film Merry Christmas is set for release, also has plans for an event in Chennai. “We have made two films: one in Hindi, and the same in Tamil. In the both versions, only (actors) Katrina Kaif and Vijay Sethupathi are the same; the rest of the cast is from the respective film industries. We have a big event planned for the first week of January,” he tells us.