Why Shriya, Taapsee are important

Multi-lingual films, or at least bilinguals, have been favourites for Kannada filmmakers looking at milking the popularity of their cast in other industries. All they need to do is get a popular south heroine or pepper the cast with actors who have a standing in all the target industries.
The makers of the Sudeep-starrer Kotigobba 2, which is to be made in Kannada and Tamil, have zeroed in on Nitya Menen for the female lead.While Eega/Naan Ee and his role in the upcoming Vijay-starrer have given Sudeep a firm foothold in Kollywood, industry insiders say that having Nitya, a popular name in all of south India, onboard is an added bonus. Ask Nitya if having a known heroine in a film has its advantages and she counters, “Isn’t that an obvious question?”
The trend is a lot more evident in other upcoming films. Director Nagashekhar is getting Taapsee Pannu to make her debut in Kannada cinema, opposite Chetan, in his film that is to be made in Kannada, Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam. Taapsee has said that her decision to sign up for the film was only because it had Tamil and Telugu versions —industries that she already has a foothold in. When she was approached for the role, she had told BT that her decision would depend on the hero who is signed up for the Tamil and Telugu versions. Even with his earlier Mynaa, Nagasekhar had told us that casting Nitya was part of his plan to release the film in Tamil and Telugu dubbed versions, as she is a popular face in the south.
Director AMR Ramesh’s Kannada-Tamil bilingual Game, for instance, stars Arjun Sarja, Shaam, and Bollywood actress Manisha Koirala. His earlier project, the Kannada and Tamil Attahasa (Vanayudham), had Kishore and Arjun Sarja in the lead. “Stars who are known to all are a must in multi-lingual films for marketing purposes. Moreover, when you make a film with a budget of about Rs 10 crore in Kannada alone, it is a bigger risk to expect returns and profit. Only a handful of the current Kannada heroes have a market that allows their producers to enjoy profits. By working with actors known across markets in a multilingual project, it justifies your budget and you need not compromise,” says the filmmaker.
When director Roopa Iyer got Shriya Saran to be a part of her Kannada-Tamil bilingual Chandra, which had Prem in the lead, she was aware that her hero did not have a market in Kollywood. Her decision to promote the film with Shriya and Yash (who did a cameo) allegedly did not go down well with Prem. Roopa had, at the time, been quoted as saying, “Most of the Kannada actresses backed out of my project because Prem was playing the lead role. But I stuck to my promise as I wanted to work with him. Even when I approached Shriya, she was not aware of Prem.”
Kannada actress Ragini Dwivedi’s film with Faisal Saif, Amma, is being made in five languages, including Hindi, which explains the need to have co-stars who are known in those industries. While the actress is an established name in Sandalwood, she is still relatively new in Hindi, Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam, and so, Amma features other known names like Rajpal Yadav, Prashant Narayanan and Anjan Srivastava as well.
Kishan Srikanth, who is making his follow-up to his Care of Footpath in Kannada and Hindi, has quite the ensemble cast to ensure better visibility in Bollywood, with names like Esha Deol, Avika Gor (of Balika Vadhu fame), Shravanti Sainath (Life of Pi) and director Anees Bazmee, among others.