Actor Allu Sirish urged Hindi film producers to dub significant films into regional languages, claiming that lost opportunities have a wider reach. He cited the success of Animal and the squandered opportunity with Dhurandhar.
Dhurandhar Missed a Big Telugu Market, Says Allu Sirish
Actor Allu Sirish, brother of Telugu star Allu Arjun, says the lack of a Telugu-dubbed version of Aditya Dhar's Dhurandhar was a "huge missed opportunity". The actor believes Hindi studios can draw inspiration from films like Animal, which increased its audience by distributing in numerous regional languages.
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Dhurandhar Missed a Big Telugu Market, Says Allu Sirish
Sirish spoke with Variety India about the growing acceptability of pan-Indian cinema, stating that viewers in South India are more willing to watch Hindi films. However, he feels that many Bollywood filmmakers fail to enter that market because they do not value dubbing their films in regional languages.
Sirish explicitly mentioned Dhurandhar, claiming that the decision not to release a Telugu version reduced the film's scope and potential box-office revenue.
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Dhurandhar Missed a Big Telugu Market, Says Allu Sirish
"I think Hindi filmmakers should put more focus on releasing their content here," Sirish said, adding that the fact that Dhurandhar was not dubbed into Telugu was a tremendous wasted opportunity. Imagine how much more business and attention it could have received if it had also been published in Telugu."
Dhurandhar Missed a Big Telugu Market, Says Allu Sirish
According to the actor, the increased popularity of Telugu films in North India demonstrates that language constraints are no longer a big issue for consumers.
"Like how the Hindi audience has endorsed Telugu films without any bias, Telugu audiences - and even audiences in Malayalam, Kannada and to some extent, Tamil - are open to Hindi films now," according to him. Sirish added, "There is no prejudice. Most of the hostility you encounter online is simply internet noise. “The audience does not care.”
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Dhurandhar Missed a Big Telugu Market, Says Allu Sirish
Sirish advised Hindi studios to regard regional releases as more constant than occasional experiments, citing examples such as Sandeep Vanga's Animal and Laxman Utekar's Chhaava.
"I believe Hindi studios should be more aggressive in distributing their stuff here and not see it as a one-time event. They could take a page from Animal's playbook, because the Telugu version here also made a sizable profit," the actor remarked.
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Dhurandhar Missed a Big Telugu Market, Says Allu Sirish
Animal, released in 2023, was dubbed into Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam, and Kannada, allowing it to reach viewers across India and considerably increase its overall collections. Chhaava, on the other hand, was dubbed into Telugu and premiered in cinemas on March 7, 2025, owing to popular demand.
Meanwhile, the sequel, Dhurandhar 2, is set to arrive on March 19.
