Siddharth Anand Kumar says that crossover stars across industries will tap bigger audience

South cinema actors like Vyjayanthimala, Hema Malini and Sridevi became an icon in Bollywood while Bollywood actors Divya Bharti, Katrina Kaif and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan made their debut in the South industry. Over the years, male and female stars from both industries have crossed over to explore unfamiliar territories and multilingual collaborations. Siddharth Anand Kumar, Vice President of Saregama, thinks that crossover stars across industries will tap bigger audiences than ever before in Indian cinema.

With the success of Baahubali and KGF: Chapter 1 in cinemas and Drishyam and C U Soon on OTT platforms, both industries are realizing that their audiences are growing bigger day by day and are not limited to a specific region. Soon a bunch of films with stars from multiple industries will arrive to engage and target an increasingly diverse audience. The budgets are expanding for crossover stories and the idea of pan-Indian cinema has also been reconfigured.

The upcoming film Brahmastra will star Telugu actor Nagarjuna Akkineni with Ranbir Kapoor and Alia Bhatt. Another upcoming Telugu period drama film, RRR movie will star Alia Bhatt as the female lead. KGF Chapter 2 will star Kannada superstar Yash along with Sanjay Dutt and Raveena Tandon. Another Kannada actor Rashmika Mandanna will star opposite Siddharth Malhotra in Mission Majnu while Ananya Panday will be seen with Vijay Deverkonda in Liger.

Here's what Siddharth Anand Kumar had to say

Siddharth Anand Kumar says that this collaboration will tap global audiences. He says, "In Hollywood too, it is becoming increasingly essential to have a diverse Starcast to attract a global audience. Be it British Indian star Simone Ashley who stars in the Netflix series, Bridgerton, or Never Have I Ever, the coming of age comedy that starred Maitreyi Ramakrishnan - there is a strong case being built for the inclusion of actors from across nations. The likes of Saeed Jaffrey and Om Puri had certainly paved the way for the current crop of Indian actors who appear in Hollywood commercial projects. Irrfan Khan of course could make even a small budget film like The Lunchbox run to packed theatres in the US. So even the biggest of industries across the world are realizing that they cannot be insular and have to tap various demographics to succeed."

Speaking further, he added, "We are finally seeing South-Indian industries and Hindi cinema truly synergising to unify a bigger fan base than ever. It is a very healthy trend because it makes storytelling more diverse and melts regional and cultural barriers. And the audience for such films is growing beyond belief.  At Yoodlee too, we are making films in Marathi, Tamil, Malayalam and other languages because the audience only wants to watch good content across the spectrum now. That is the only demand and content creators are realigning their casting choices accordingly.”

(Image Credit: Siddharth Anand Kumar Fanpage/Instagram)