Dhurandhar not being dubbed in Telugu was a huge opportunity missed, says Allu Sirish

Actor Allu Sirish has shared his thoughts on the way Hindi films approach regional markets, especially the Telugu audience. Speaking recently, he pointed out that several Hindi projects are missing an opportunity by not releasing dubbed versions in southern languages. According to him, the situation is changing as viewers across regions are increasingly open to watching films from different industries.

During a conversation with Variety India, Sirish referred to films like Chhaava, Dhurandhar and Animal while discussing the importance of regional dubbing. He said that the decision not to release Dhurandhar in Telugu limited its reach in a market that is now receptive to Hindi content.

Sirish also explained that audiences today do not hold strong regional biases when it comes to films. “I’m saying, like how the Hindi audience has endorsed Telugu films without any bias, Telugu audiences and even audiences in other languages, like Malayalam, Kannada, to some extent Tamil, all of them are open now to Hindi films. There is no bias. This is all internet noise. The audience doesn’t care.”

He further added that films should ideally be released in Telugu, Malayalam and Kannada simultaneously to maximise their reach. Referring to Animal, which was directed by Sandeep Reddy Vanga and starred Ranbir Kapoor, Sirish said the film’s makers made the effort to dub the project properly for southern markets.

“Only the makers of Animal took the effort of dubbing it in Telugu,” he said. Speaking about Chhaava, he noted that its Telugu version arrived much later, and by then “some steam was lost.”

Sirish also urged Hindi studios to rethink their release strategy. “I think Hindi filmmakers should put more focus on releasing their content here. Dhurandhar not being dubbed into Telugu, I think, was a huge opportunity missed. Imagine how much more business it could have done and how many more eyeballs it could have reached had it released in Telugu also.”

The actor added that studios should not treat regional releases as a one time move. “I feel like the Hindi studios should be more proactive in releasing their content here and not treat it as a one-off activity. I think they should learn a little from Animal’s playbook, because the Telugu version here also collected a sizable amount,” he said.

Directed by Aditya Dhar, Dhurandhar featured Ranveer Singh in the lead role and was set against the backdrop of covert intelligence operations. Its sequel, Dhurandhar 2, which released in December 2025, reportedly crossed ?1300 crore globally and is scheduled to arrive in theatres again on March 19.