Films in the four south Indian languages, including their dubbed versions, attracted large audiences and accounted for up to 10% of overall viewing minutes on OTT streaming platforms in 2021.
According to platform executives, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, and the Delhi NCR (National Capital Region) accounted for 75 percent of dubbed film watching.
Minnal Murali, a Malayalam film, is one of Netflix’s top 10 non-English films for the final week of December, with 5.9 million viewing hours, while Amazon Prime Video’s best successes include Jai Bhim, Sarpatta Parambarai, and Soorarai Pottru. RRR, a historical drama, will be dubbed in Spanish, Portuguese, and Korean for Netflix after its theatrical premiere.
In addition, Netflix’s Tamil anthology Navarasa has been ranked in the top ten in ten countries, including India, Malaysia, and Sri Lanka. More than 40% of the film’s viewers came from outside India in its first week on Netflix.
Nayattu (Malayalam), Andhaghaaram (Tamil), Pitta Kathalu (Telugu), Paava Kadhaigal (Tamil), Cinema Bandi (Telugu), and Mandela (Tamil) all made the Top 10 in India in the recent year.
Netflix India’s director of films and licencing, Pratiksha Rao, stated that the country’s OTT boom has created a huge chance for emerging talent to share their tales with the world. “We’re thrilled to feature stories from a new generation of tremendously gifted South Indian performers and storytellers.” “With their real and accessible storytelling across genres, they continue to establish new benchmarks,” she remarked.
As the firm grows its film slate to include original and licenced films in these languages, it has just opened a Twitter handle dedicated to discussions on south Indian cinema, after hearing from members that they want to learn more about the subject, Rao said.
In a prior interview with Mint, Manish Menghani, Prime Video India’s head of content licencing, noted that 50 percent of moviegoers for Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, and Kannada films came from beyond their respective home states. These films are being seen in over 170 countries throughout the world, with foreign audiences accounting for over 20% of overall audiences for these local language films.
According to media analysts, purchase rates for southern films, which were initially significantly cheaper than Hindi films, would only rise in 2022 as they outperform others. Even tiny Malayalam films may now command upwards of Rs. 20-30 crore, which is comparable to a mid-budget Hindi picture. The fact that they are being dubbed in a variety of different languages just adds to their appeal.
