(This article is authored by Alar) 

"If a million people see my movies, I hope they see a million different movies'' - Quentin Tarantino.

The term 'PAN INDIA' that is surfing in the media and film industry, trendingly refers to a film that reaches a mass number of audiences rather than regionally. More chance to materialize for people, covering mass audience through 5500 screens in India. For the films that have a mixed work of north and south actors, with stories connected to all regional audiences, and made in all Indian languages, the term 'PAN INDIA' is coined. 

The word PAN refers, to "Presence Across Nation". With these elements, makers aim to grab a massive audience without limitation. This will pave the way to a credit for the filmmakers and respective actors and taking a taste of South Indian film culture across the nation. Fancily to say, movies in Hindi we call it Bollywood, movies in Telugu we call it Tollywood same way Kollywood for Tamil and Mollywood for Malayalam. PAN is 'Indiawood'.

Are We Already Familiar With Pan India Films?

An on-screen collaboration between Bollywood and South stars had been a trend in the past. Popular stars - Rajinikanth, Kamal Haasan, Chiranjeevi, Nagarjuna, Prabhu Deva, and many others had collaborated with Aishwarya Rai, Deepika Padukone, Sonakshi Sinha, Manisha Koirala, Raveena Tandon, and Kajol, etc. In detail, movies like Uyire, Roja, Endhiran(Robo), and Mahanati served the purpose of PAN Indian Films.

But what made to hear this term lately all over media and film circles? The trend has been popularised by director SS Rajamouli, who’s had a big role in pushing the idea of 'pan-Indian films' forward as a revival. But Tamil directors Mani Ratnam and Shankar, thrived once in a while with films that addressed larger national sentimental values, dramatic love stories, or grand productions with high budgets, without the 'specific term'. 

Many filmmakers are attempting to make pan-Indian films that appeal to people across the country,  and the resounding theatrical success of films like Baahubali, Pushpa, and KGF made it evident. Another factor is an uptick of OTT platforms and the wake of the Covid pandemic which led the makers and producers to think, ‘make hay while the sun shines’. OTT in lockdown days made other regional film buffs rejoice at the new arm of the movie industry. 

'Minnal Murali', 'Soorarai Potru', 'Sarpatta Parambarai', 'Karnan', and 'The Family Man' series were some of the movies that garnered a good reception in the OTT club. Slowly the partition of the north cinema and south cinema got blurred. Dhanush is another example of this new culture, as he collabs with the Hindi industry for "Raanjhaana" and "Shamitabh" with "Atrangi Re", now into Hollywood. Post-pandemic film industry culture is a contrast to pre-covid.

In 2019, Sye Raa Narasimha Reddy was made in six languages. Centred around  Telugu megastar Chiranjeevi, who plays the titular role, he’s played by an equally starry support cast from neighbouring film industries. There’s Kannada star Kichha Sudeep, Tamil cinema’s Nayanthara and Vijay Sethupathi while Bhojpuri star Ravi Kishan and Amitabh Bachchan played in a special roles. Without geographical and linguistic barriers, this film reached more. The mixing of southern and northern stars will mix the fanbase of the stars in both the regions parallelly. This close bondage ensures more success.

Before the PAN Indian film publicization was there, Hindi movies were dubbed into regional languages notably. But recently we are witnessing a shift in perception. The EY-FICCI report says that domestic box-office revenues in the calendar year 2021 were dominated by South Indian films at Rs 2,400 crore, followed by Bollywood at Rs 800 crore and Hollywood at Rs 500 crore. In 2019, Bollywood’s share was higher than South Indian films (Rs 5,200 crore versus Rs 4,000 crore), while Hollywood’s share stood at Rs 1,500 crore.

Suriya’s ‘Jai Bhim’ appeared on top of Google's 'Year in Search 2021' list." Baahubali" star Prabhas' name appeared as the number one South Asian celebrity in the world for 2021 by UK-based Eastern Eye weekly newspaper. As per IMDB, the list of best Indian movies so far in 2022 includes KGF 2, Vikram, Kadaisi Vivasayi, Bheeshma Parvam, and RRR, in the top five spots respectively.

Actor Sidharth said in an interview with Indianexpress, "This is just a new word for something that always existed. The ‘pan-India’ tag holds no relevance as south Indian cinema has been making films across languages for decades. My boss (Mani Ratnam) made a film called Roja 30 years ago. If that’s not a pan-India film, I don’t know what these people are talking about. Ask your family about Roja or Bombay and then who made it, they’ll say Mani Ratnam. They won’t say it’s pan-India. Such films don’t need any tag. They just reach their audience." 

"I have great respect for what KGF and all these films have done. I’m very proud of what they’ve achieved as an industry. Terms like pan-India are a way of othering films which are not in Hindi. It means we are the main people. Whoever else comes is an outsider. You never say a Bollywood film is a pan-India film. You just call it Bollywood. Then why is a south Indian film a pan-India film? It’s a Kannada film or a Telugu film", he added. 

To note, PAN Indian films are defined as 'revolutionary' after the post-Bahubali Cinema world. But we were already aware. The grandeur success of recent south films grabbed the remarkable examples for the PAN India films. It will be appropriate to say, south films are finally attracting the ‘north-Indian gaze’ with veteran makers, who fusing cultural and technological elements better recently, whereas previously, several movies were dubbed into Hindi for a certain audience. Such films are the golden ticket to India's cinema quality. As Karan Johar, in an interview with Film Companion said, "Pan-India became like, ‘Let’s not call it a Hindi film, a Bengali film, a Marathi film, let’s call it Indian cinema."