Kalki 2898 AD and War 2 to Sikandar and Devara: 10 north-south crossovers
After SS Rajamouli’s Baahubali kicked off the pan-India trend, the latest seems to be all about crossovers between Bollywood and the south Indian film industries.
Be it Telugu or Tamil directors collaborating with Hindi actors and vice versa, take a look at 10 films that will see filmmakers and actors migrating to other industries.
Nag Ashwin’s Kalki 2898 AD will be released on June 27. For the first time, Deepika Padukone will act in a Telugu film, while Amitabh Bachchan will return after Sye Raa Narasimha Reddy. The film, which also stars Prabhas, will see Deepika as a pregnant woman called Sumathi (written as SUM-80) and Amitabh as Aswatthama.
Amitabh will also star in TJ Gnanavel’s Tamil film Vettaiyan, starring Rajinikanth.
SDGM
The yet-to-be-titled SDGM will see Telugu director Gopichand Malineni work with Bollywood actor Sunny Deol. The film, which was launched in Hyderabad on June 20, will go on floors on June 22. While nothing much about the film is known, given both Gopichand and Sunny’s filmography, it’s expected to be a mass action drama.
Sikandar
Tamil director AR Murugadoss will direct Salman Khan in a film titled Sikandar. The director recently shared a behind-the-scenes picture on X (formerly Twitter) showing Salman in a new avatar. Shooting for the film, which also stars Rashmika Mandanna, is in progress, and it will be released for Eid next year.
Baby John
Varun Dhawan and Keerthy Suresh-starrer Baby John is the Hindi remake of Atlee’s Tamil film Theri. Kalees, known for the 2019 film Kee, is directing the remake. The film tells the story of a non-violent man who runs a bakery but is forced to face his violent past when his daughter’s life is threatened.
War 2
Unlike most films in this list, War 2 will see a south actor work in Bollywood. Ayan Mukherji is directing the sequel to War, with Hrithik Roshan and Jr NTR in the lead roles. Jr NTR even shot a few schedules in Mumbai earlier this year, and the film will mark his debut in Bollywood.
Devara: Part 1
Koratala Siva’s Jr NTR-starrer Devara will mark Janhvi Kapoor and Saif Ali Khan’s debut in Tollywood. The action film will see Saif play Bhaira while Janhvi plays Thangam. Both actors’ first-look posters see them looking different, with Janhvi dressed in a half saree and Saif sporting unruly hair.
Double iSmart, KD – The Devil
Sanjay Dutt plays Big Bull in Puri Jagannadh’s Double iSmart, the sequel to his highly successful iSmart Shankar. The actor will face off against Ram Pothineni, who plays the titular character. Double iSmart will be released on August 15 and will mark Sanjay’s proper debut in Tollywood after he played a cameo in Nagarjuna’s Chandralekha. After KGF, Sanjay is also starring in another Kannada film – KD The Devil – directed by Prem and starring Dhruva Sarja.
Kanguva, Hari Hara Veera Mallu, NBK 109
Bobby Deol’s fierce avatar as Udhiran in Siva’s Suriya-starrer Kanguva has made waves since it was released. The film will mark his debut in Kollywood. He has also been roped in to play Aurangazeb in Krish and Jyothi Krishna’s Telugu film Hari Hara Veera Mallu, apart from playing the antagonist in Bobby’s yet-to-be-titled NBK 109 with Balakrishna.
They Call Him OG, G2
Emraan Hashmi also has two Telugu films lined up – They Call Him OG and G2. The former film, directed by Sujeeth, will see Pawan Kalyan in the lead role, while the latter, directed by Vinay Kumar, sees Adivi Sesh. G2 is the remake of the hit film Goodachari and OG is a gangster drama set in Mumbai.
Vishwambhara
After debuting with the 2018 Nani, Nagarjuna-starrer Devadas, Kunal Kapoor returns to Telugu cinema with Malladi Vassishta’s Vishwambhara. The fantasy film will see Chiranjeevi, Trisha Krishnan, and Meenakshi Chaudhary as the lead actors. Kunal recently announced that the role is a ‘challenging’ one in an ‘ambitious’ film.