From SRK-Nayanthara, Salman-Rashmika to Jr NTR and Deepika: Here's why strategic crossovers are happening

Major cross-overs are happening between Bollywood and the Southern film industry in the last couple of years. Be it Alia Bhatt's cameo in RRR or Deepika Padukone playing the female lead in Prabhas' upcoming Kalki 2898 AD, almost every leading superstar in Bollywood or South is working with an actor from the other industry and vice-versa.

Earlier too Vijayashanti or Laxmi used to do a Bollywood movie or Manisha Koirala and Urmila Matondkar did Hindustani with Kamal Haasan. However, such cross-overs were less frequent. Rather remakes were more common with Bollywood filmmakers and writers remaking Tamil/Telugu movies in Hindi and vice-versa.

So why have these strategic crossovers become almost very common now?

Superstars aim for Pan-India reach

Baahubali has proved that if the quality of content is exceptionally good and the movie is distributed and marketed well, it can reach every nook and corner of the country and even make a mark globally.

When Shah Rukh Khan paired with Nayanthara for Jawan the intention was to woo the lady superstar's fans to the theaters in the Southern region. Allu Arjun's Pushpa: The Rise proved till then that if a good movie is dubbed and presented properly it can attract all types of audiences irrespective of region or language.

That is why Jawan was made in multiple languages with a main focus on Southern languages including Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, and Malayalam. Salman Khan will be next seen in Sikandar with Rashmika Mandanna, who is currently the topmost Southern actress. Naturally, the strategy here is also the same as Jawan. Importantly while Jawan was directed by Atlee, Sikandar is directed by Murugadoss. Both are famous directors from the South Indian film industry.

Prabhas' earlier movies like Saaho with Shraddha Kapoor and Adipurush with Kriti Sanon were aimed at capturing a pan-India audience. Katrina Kaif and Vijay Sethupathi's Merry Christmas or Naga Chaitanya's debut in Bollywood with Laal Singh Chaddha has been made keeping the same pan-India reach strategy in mind.

More and better options for delivering quality content

Now Jr. NTR is working with Hrithik Roshan in War 2 whereas Amitabh Bachchan is working with Prabhas in Kalki 2898 AD. With actors of high calibre like Tarak and Big B keeping their options open for working on multi-lingual movies, producers and directors have more options to rope in actors who are perfectly suitable for a particular role.

More choices ensure better translation of the vision of the director and story writer which undoubtedly helps in enhancing the quality of the content.