South Indian Cinema encompasses movies in all South Indian regional languages including Kannada, Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam. The movies churned out of South Indian and regional cinema are on a whole other level. This may be because they are made on much lower budgets. Also, they focus more on creativity rather than on the commercial value of the film. Also, audiences for regional movies have a much different taste compared to Bollywood fans.
Every kid knows how South Indian stars have a god-like appeal to them, and super-human strength. Moreover, they are kind of portrayed as a one-man army. They achieve impossible feats, even evading death and bullets. Rajnikanth and Chiranjeevi’s near-impossible stunts are mind-blowing. It’s also hilarious to watch some of the ridiculous and over-the-top action scenes by actors like Balayya. However, in a lot of other factors, South and regional cinema far outweighs Bollywood movies. Here are 3 ways in which south Indian and regional movies are more realistic than Bollywood:
1. Scripts that audiences can relate to:
If you have seen mainstream Bollywood movies like Student of the Year, Dabbang, etc., the stories and scripts are so far removed from reality. Viewers can hardly relate to the outcome or the message of the movie. But South Indian movies address much more realistic challenges or journeys by the protagonist. For instance, the movie ‘Student of the Year’ is about the story of rich kids attending an expensive school to compete for the best student award. On the other hand, if you pick the Malayalam movie ‘Malare’, the story sees a college student falling for his pretty teacher. Which is much more believable as a member of the audience.
2. Believable and realistic sets:
South Indian and regional language movies tend to film on much more realistic sets and natural settings. For instance, take the Marathi movie Sairat. Did you know that the movie was shot in an actual village with real village people? It went on to be one of the highest-grossing Marathi films of all time. On the other hand, take a Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham or a Mohabbatein for example. One shows a legit castle in Europe as the actual house of the characters. And another shows a gigantic castle/mansion Longleat House, Wiltshire, England) as an Indian school for teenagers.
3. Subtle makeup and costume:
South and Regional filmmakers seem to consider actors’ ‘natural’ state as more camera-ready. Have you seen Nazriya Nazim in the movie ‘Bangalore Days’? You’ll see how she has very little makeup on and is wearing subtle costumes. Not just her, most characters in South Indian and regional movies truly dress to the occasion. However, in Hindi cinema, we are used to garrish, over-the-top costumes, heavily caked makeup. Also, women go to bed in slick-straight hair, sometimes even with jewelry on. Bollywood gives too much importance to makeup and costumes. This is because they prioritize the glitz and glam factor of the movies. Remember Alia Bhatt going to university with a Birkin bag, shades, makeup, and a party dress in Student of the Year?