Southern cinema was a lucky charm for B-town in 11

When the South invaded BOLLYWOOD

Southern cinema was a lucky charm for B-town in 2011

Compiled by P Sangeetha

It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that southern cinema left a lasting impression on Bollywood movie-watchers and took the industry by storm in 2011. Several southern movies were remade in Hindi, the audio rights of southern chartbusters were bought by B-town A-listers, and southern hotties headed up north and cast a spell on the Hindi belt.
REMAKE RAJ
Bollywood tasted success, southern style, with some of the biggest hits in B-town being remakes of south Indian films. In a hit-starved Bollywood this year, southern remakes came as a welcome relief and emerged the highest grossers at the box office. "Singham", the remake of the Tamil hit "Singam", "Bodyguard" and "Ready", remakes of their respective Malayalam and Telugu originals, set cash registers ringing. Another movie that did reasonably well was the John Abraham-starrer Force, a remake of the Tamil hit "Kaakha Kaakha". Such was the demand for south films that producers were vying for remakes even before a film's release. Case in point: Salman Khan's camp approached the makers of Mahesh Babu's "Dookudu" for a Hindi remake before the film released.
BOLLYWOOD GOES KUTHU
Kuthu, hitherto known as a unique south dance and song routine, headed up north too. Btown A-listers were vying to buy the remake rights of kuthu ch a r t - busters. Salman K h a n , who has starred in many remakes of south f i l m s, made the nation shake a leg to "Dhinka Chinka", the Hindi version of the Telugu hit Ringa Ringa. While the Tamil number "Nakka Mukka" featured prominently in the background music in "The Dirty Picture", B-town saw a fight between Akshay Kumar and Sonu Sood for the rights of "Appidi Podu" from "Ghilli".
BOLLYWOOD DREAMS
While Southern hotties Kajal Aggarwal and Charmme had dream debuts opposite Ajay Devgn and Amitabh Bachchan in "Singham" and "Bbuddah Hoga Tera Baap" respectively; Piaa Bajpai, Madhu Shalini and Tapsee Pannu all headed up north for their B-town debuts. Telugu star Rana Daggubati tasted success with "Dum Maaro Dum", Tamil actor Vikram signed his second Hindi film by Bejoy Nambiar of "Shaitan" fame, and Mollywood actor Prithviraj signed his maiden Hindi venture opposite Rani Mukerji. South directors Susi Ganesan and Lingusamy also zeroed in on their first B'wood ventures.
WHY THIS KOLAVERI DI?
This was one song that took the nation by storm with a 'murderous rage'. Tamil star Dhanush, who penned the lyrics and sang the number, became an overnight sensation after the video of the song leaked on the internet. Even as "Chamm a k C h a l l o " a n d " B h a a g DK Bose" fought for the number one spot, it was the soup song that emerged the winner, with its many versions.
AWARDS GALORE The year began on a victorious note as Southern cinema swept the 58th National Awards, as "Adaminte Makan Abu" bagged the award for the Best Feature Film, Salim and Dhanush bagged the award for the Best Actor, Saranya Ponvannan received the award for the Best Female Actor in "Thenmerku Paruvakatru", and Vetrimaaran was declared as the Best Director for "Aadukalam".

A still from 'Bodyguard'

Vidya Balan in 'The Dirty Picture'

Kajal Aggarwal

A still from "Adaminte Makan Abu"