Regional stars have truly arrived

I think last decade has been best for regional stars who, in my opinion, are no longer confined to own regions alone and have made a mark globally and nationally.

It is for first time I am seeing Yash in Pepsi ad solo, Diljit in ads for Bar One and Coke, NTR Jr in ad for Appy Fizz, Prabhu in ad for Vicks, Prabhas in ad for Mahindra, Tammanah in ads with Akshay and Ranveer for beauty products, Ram Charan in Frooti ad with Alia, Allu Arjun in Red Bus and KFC ads, Rashmika and Ravi Kishen in some ads and their hoardings PAN India and not just limited to their states.

Earlier Asin and Trisha have featured in ads nationally. But not other regional stars much.

I am seeing regional stars and singers featured and represented equally and on more equal footing in Doordarshan's new songs on national integration compared to a time in 2000s when songs showed Bollywood celebs more in comparison to regional stars.

It is great films like Bahubali, RRR, KGF, Kantara etc opened floodgates and dubbed versions of films are doing good on TV and online and regional stars are more recognised.

Earlier only Rajinikanth managed to crack the code when Sivaji, Robot, Chandramukhi succeeded across India and Kabali, Kaala also did well.

But now others are also doing good and success of Sardarji series, Jatt and Juliet, KGF, RRR, Bahubali, Pushpa, successful roles such as Diljit in Udta Punjab, have really turned the tables for so called regional stars.

Some Bollywood and regional collabs have also done great, such as Bhojpuri film Ganga which released several years ago and broke records, beat even BW films in cowbelt states, thanks to its star studded cast with AB Sr, Hema, Ravi Kishen, Nagma etc.

Earlier such successful crossover was seen in 1980s when South remakes did well in BW and revived Jeetendra's career, gave new stars like Sridevi, Jayaprada to BW and Kamal Haasan, Chiranjeevi and Rajinikanth also did significant work in BW back then. But it did not translate to more pop culture popularity like we have today thanks to subtitles and dubbed versions, internet and 24/7 movie channels and regional stars did not get endorsements or mag covers as much except Chiranjeevi, Rajini, Kamal in India today, Outlook and some of them in music videos on national integration on DD and occasional awards to them through Filmfare like Kamal Haasan won for Chachi 420 and Saagar.

Earlier Jaspal Bhatti, Vivek Shauq got only comedian roles in BW. I am glad Diljit, Ammy Virk etc got more significant roles than same old caricature.

And Southern stars get to look normal rather than do same old South wala caricature or no ads or hoardings at national level.

Good to see RRR win Oscar or earlier Diljit top Billboard chart and Billboard follow him, on Twitter, first Indian star to be followed by them. Nice to see even so called regional stars feature in global media and at Times Square, NY. Earlier mainly Bollywood wale were featured or made it to TIME or Newsweek or global channels with rare exceptions like Rajinikanth making it to CNN's most influential actors of Asia list or Sivaji Ganesan honoured by French govt.

Good to see regional lot finally get their due and let world know there is more to India than just Hindi films. It is also nice to see commercial content noticed more or else it was mostly offbeat content which got more noticed, like Satyajit Ray's heavyweight films.

I am happy to see brands tap into power of so called regional stars. Otherwise even flops like Fardeen or Vivek got more national level ads compared to regional stars whose ada were shown on only channels of their language. Good to see them in so called national summits by India Today and News18, which look representative of 'nation' only now.

Internet has truly changed the game for so called regional stars and given them more exposure and they need not depend on Dilli Bombay media anymore to get an audience.

I cannot get enough of Ram Charan.

His handsomeness, his charming smile and his unique twinkling cute eyes.

Love him.

Ram Charan has really good eyes, smile and looks good in beard.

I REALLY like Yash and he looks amazing whether clean shaven or in beard and his screen presence and body language remind me of young AB Sr.

He would have fitted Salim Javed type scripts like a glove given his swagger and similar angry young man image, good height yet a face which can look both soft, handsome yet brooding.

Yash is legit hot.

And what I like about Ram, Yash, Prabhas, Rana, Allu etc is that they actually look like men. They have manly aura and voices, screen presence and swagger, which is totally missing in Bollywood actors of young generation who are...chalo leave it.

Originally posted by: atominis

Ram Charan has really good eyes, smile and looks good in beard.

I REALLY like Yash and he looks amazing whether clean shaven or in beard and his screen presence and body language remind me of young AB Sr.

He would have fitted Salim Javed type scripts like a glove given his swagger and similar angry young man image, good height yet a face which can look both soft, handsome yet brooding.

Yash is legit hot.

And what I like about Ram, Yash, Prabhas, Rana, Allu etc is that they actually look like men. They have manly aura and voices, screen presence and swagger, which is totally missing in Bollywood actors of young generation who are...chalo leave it.

agree about Bollywood actors not been very manly looking...

Gone are the days of kabeer bedi, vinod Khanna etc... now we have bachaas looking heroes varun, tiger, ayushman, Shahid etc. even hrithik looks not that manly with clean shave and without an intentional makeover for a rough brooding look given to him in war

Bollywood lost manly heroes from 90s itself when they got these Khans who never looked or sounded like men nor had height or voice or physique and suited school kid roles and likes of Aamir are still playing college kid.

I cannot imagine an Amitabh, Sanjay Dutt or Vinod or Dharam now. Nor villains like Amrish or Kabir Bedi or Ajit.

Jackie Shroff is the last time one sae rugged masculinity in Hindi cinema.

Nowadays we have mostly weirdos who are nowhere. One cannot even call them LGBTQIA icons given how they appropriate cultures of other communities and fail at it. They are nowhere really and look like whiny overgrown manchild types crying over GFs.

Honestly even their women look like real women and less plastic, less stony, more expressive and fuller figure. Not flat.

Anushka Shetty, Ramya Krishnan, Tammanah, Sai Pallavi, Rashmika look like women. Not overgrown school girl or child woman.

What I like is that regional stars got noticed for work. Not for antics like men wearing skirts, make up, bikini or nude photo shoots or affairs or some bullshit causes or politics. Unlike useless lot in current BW.