Big-budget blockbusters from southern India outdo Bollywood in power shift

Streaming with subtitles has changed the game for some of the regional movies, said Anupama Chopra, a film critic and director of the MAMI Mumbai Film Festival

Bollywood has a serious rival now in India. It’s bigger, louder and is making more money than its prolific, glitzy Hindi-language cousin known for its signature dance moves and opulent wedding scenes.

A new genre of films from southern India — epic, big-budget, over-the-top action flicks, some of them served with a dollop of toxic masculinity and gory violence — are increasingly dominating the country’s $24 billion media and entertainment market, and in some cases, making their mark beyond India. Though shot in regional languages like Telugu and Kannada, they are drawing millions of viewers to theaters screening dubbed versions and