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NEW DELHI: Popular Telugu star Rashmika Mandanna known for hits such as Kirik Party (2016), Geetha Govindam (2018), Sarileru Neekevvaru (2020), Bheeshma (2020), Pogaru (2021) and Sulthan (2021), will be seen alongside Ranbir Kapoor in Animal, his upcoming film directed by Sandeep Reddy Vanga. Animal also stars Anil Kapoor and Bobby Deol and is slated for release on 11 August, 2023.
Mandanna will also feature in two other Hindi films in the coming months - Mission Majnu opposite Sidharth Malhotra, and Goodbye, co-starring Amitabh Bachchan.
The year 2022 will see several actors breach linguistic and geographical borders to debut in films not in their native tongues.
While south Indian actors like Vijay Deverakonda, Vijay Sethupathi and Mandanna will be seen in Hindi films, Bollywood stars Alia Bhatt, Kriti Sanon and Deepika Padukone are working in what are primarily Telugu language films. The transition is part of the move to create films for pan-India audiences made either by Bollywood or southern film studios but to be released in multiple dubbed languages for reach across markets.
While Hindi film actors have realised the appeal of large-scale south Indian language films, actors from down south are also keen to look beyond their core base. Prabhas’s Adipurush and an untitled film with Padukone, and Deverakonda’s Liger produced by Karan Johar are a few upcoming titles that will see actors crossing over to other languages.
Rajamouli’s Baahubali franchise had shown the way for Telugu and Tamil films to penetrate into the Hindi heartland including small towns in states like Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, and more recent films have built on the trend. Released late December, the dubbed Hindi version of Allu Arjun’s Pushpa: The Rise-Part One, had made over ₹100 crore at last count, with Maharashtra and Gujarat driving the business. This was Arjun’s first release in the Hindi market and had released without any marketing or promotional buzz.
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