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Thirteen films in four years, mostly hits, yet Sonakshi Sinha decided
to do a South film. Reason: Who doesn’t want to work with superstar Rajinikant?
Similarly, 37 Hindi films later Riteish Deshmukh, in a career spanning eleven years, turned producer of Marathi films with Balak Palak, Yellow and Lai Bhari in 2013-14 respectively and even made his debut as a Marathi film actor with the latter. Shreyas Talpade, an actor since 2000 with films like Iqbal and Dor, took to solo production of the Marathi film Poshter Boyz this year.
Over the years Bollywood has been the ultimate goal for every actor, however big or small. But lately, there has been a slight change in the graph with even successful actors aligning towards regional films that were once upon a time looked down by Bollywood stars. With the current trend, Hindi actors are ‘high’ on the regional front; be it Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Deepika Padukone or Sonakshi Sinha; every one seems to be venturing down the regional path.
Whether they have their hands full or not, Hindi actors are willing to try out a new pie. Deepika and Sonakshi had no qualms in working with an actor more than double their age. What is it that attracts them to regional films? Has the regional film industry changed for the better thus tempting Hindi actors to try out options? There were many answers.
Some felt that it was only a natural to give back to their motherland what they have gained from it. Agreeing, Riteish Deshmukh says that his transition of becoming a producer of Balak Palak, Yellow and Lai Bhari, is basically about not only wanting to make a career but to be a part of Marathi films mainly for the love for the language, which is his mother tongue. “I have a good career in Hindi films but I wanted to make content-based cinema in Marathi. However, when commerce comes in to the picture, the parameters start changing. In Marathi, the budgets are low and publicity budgets are much lesser. When we make a Rs.3 crore film, we are looking for an equal amount of return. I think if we have to increase the quality, we have to have a good product too,” asserts the actor-cum-producer. Besides Riteish, superstars like Amitabh Bachchan (Vihir in Marathi, Gulabi in Telugu, Yuvathurki in Malayalam, Ullaasam in Tamil and Saptapadii in Gujarati) and Akshay Kumar (72 Miles – Ek Pravas and upcoming Anntar, both in Marathi), to name a few, have produced films for the regional film industry. Bachchan has also acted in a few Bhojpuri ventures made by his makeup man Deepak Sawant. And other stars who have carved a name for themselves as actors as well as producers include Ravi Kishan (Bhojpuri) and Jimmy Sheirgill (Punjabi), to name a few. Prominent actors like Shah Rukh Khan, Anil Kapoor, Madhuri Dixit Nene have also expressed their desire to produce a Marathi film.
One of the actors who has worked in regional films even while she was active in Hindi films is Juhi Chawla. Since she was away in Greece, it was her spokesperson who spoke on her behalf with Juhi’s consent. According to him, Juhi did Premaloka, a Kannada film right after her first Hindi film Sultanat, because she was ‘just starting out’. “It was work that mattered to her. Juhi played the lead in Shanti Kranti which was made in Tamil, Kannada and Telugu with Rajinikant, V. Ravichandra and Nagarjuna respectively as her heroes. She did a Bengali film Amar Prem for good friend Prosenjit. Similarly the Punjabi films were because of her bonding with producer Manjeet Mann, Gurdas Mann’s wife. Her last regional film was a Malayalam project titled Harikishnans that had superstars Mammootty and Mohanlal coming together after a long gap. In fact she was lured into doing these films as they had good roles and she was working with only the superstars of the industry,” he says.
Sunny Leone, who after doing Hindi films like Jism 2, Shootout at Wadala, Jackpot and Ragini MMS 2, will be seen in doing dance numbers in Tamil films like Vadacurry, Oru Oorla Rendu Raja and Current Theega. Speaking on her behalf, her husband and manager Daniel Webber states that Sunny is attracted to South films since it is a experience she wants to try. “Sunny enjoys taking up challenges. Every industry works differently. In the south, the crew is smaller and they work faster. Right now she is mostly doing songs or cameos. Maybe next year she will try a full-fledged regional film,” he says.
Interestingly, Varun Sharma who made his debut in the hilarious Fukrey as Chucha did a Punjabi film Yaaran Da Katchup which talks about old friends catching up, immediately after his Hindi film debut despite the film being a success. The actor says he always wanted to do Punjabi films because he is from Jalandhar, knows the language and the connect with the people was always there. “It was an old thing in me and I wanted to take this chance right at the onset of my career. I did not want to do four-five Hindi films and then go into Punjabi because by then my entire perception would have changed. So I thought I should do a Punjabi film right away,” says Sharma.
Jimmy Sheirgill, who seems to have made a mark back in his hometown, has been managing the two industries equally well. “I was lured into Punjabi films by Manmohan Singh, DOP of Yashraj Films with whom I had done Mohabbatein. He started directing Punjabi films and he knew I am a Sardar from Punjab so in 2005, I did his Yaaran Naal Baharan, my first Punjabi film. That’s when I promised myself that every one and a half years I would make a good Punjabi film. But it took me some years to make Mel Karade Rabba, in 2009 and till now I have tried to live up to my promise,” says the actor who believes that his efforts have brought results to the Punjabi industry with young boys, who did small roles in his films and even singers of his films, have now become famous; like Diljit Dosanjh, Gippy Grewal and others.
Similarly, Ravi Kishan feels that he has also been responsible for getting good names to the Bhojpuri film industry after he risked his chance. “That’s right. It was producer Mohanji Prasad who brought me to here. I used to think Bhojpuri films was a small market and I was not interested initially but I took a chance and God was kind. Over the years, I worked hard for the industry. I have tried to glamourise it by getting South girls who have also done Hindi films like Nagma, Rambha, Shweta Tiwari as heroines. Big faces like Amitabh Bachchan attracted the audiences by acting in Bhojpuri films and Dilip Kumar and Saira Banu have produced a film with me,” says the actor who hopes that one day the Bihar government will support the Bhojpuri film industry to make it a lucrative business. “More than 50,000 households are running because of the Bhojpuri film industry but due of lack of good scripts, saturation is setting in. Which is why I am planning to start my own home production, to bring back the much-needed magic,” he states. However, Jimmy is not in favour of producing films. “ I co-produced four films but it was not a good experience. I have decided to stick to acting. Moreover, production is a full time job,” he rues.
Talking about the change that their respective industries have seen, Jimmy recalls during his first Punjabi film, only about 16 prints and a couple of the digital prints were released. “But today prints are fading out. It is all digital and we have around 800-1000 shows a day across India. That is the kind of achievement Punjabi industry is seeing today with films doing well abroad, essentially in Canada. With Mel Karade Rabba, Munde UK De, etc, Australia has also become a very big market. Two places which, I feel, are huge and with enormous potential but somehow have not been explored are USA and UK. We are still trying to figure out the reasons,” says Jimmy while Ravi Kishan adds, with around 33 crore Bhojpuri-speaking people all over the globe, the industry has become bigger and awareness is there. “Many new actors are coming in. We are trying to be technically-savvy and make better films for our people but we need the infrastructure,” he says. Riteish Deshmukh feels that technically, the Marathi industry is already sorted by getting superior people to do their jobs lately.
Besides these eminent people there are many others who have ventured into regional languages at some point. Jackie Shroff has Bengali, Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada, Tamil, Marathi, Punjabi and Oriya films to his credit. South actress Kushboo, who started out as a child artise in Bollywood, gained immense popularity in Tamil films to the extent that she is worshipped by her fans. Raveena Tandon too has Tamil, Kannada and Bengali films in her kitty. Miss World Sushmita Sen is stepping in to do a film Jodi Emon Hote, in her mother tongue, Bengali after having done Ratchagan, a Tamil film. Similarly Bipasha Basu has done only one Bengali film, Rituparno Ghosh’s Shob Charito Kalponik, after attempting Takkaro Donga in Telugu and Tamil film Sachein. Marathi mulgi Urmila Matondkar was recently seen in Ajoba while veteran actress Tanuja essayed a sensitive role in Pitruroon, her second Marathi film in a long time.
From the looks of it while some have attempted regional cinema during a lull in their Bollywood career, others have ventured purely for emotional reasons. Whatever the cause, regional cinema stands to gain.
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