‘Regional is becoming new national’
At the recent ‘South Unbound’ event, Kamal Haasan shared his views on the importance of South cinema in India and how its success proves that originality is a currency that “can never be demonised”.
Kamal Haasan, Baahubali, Kantara, KGF Episode 2
Actor Kamal Haasan attended the ‘South Unlimited’ JioHotstar Program in Chennai and highlighted the growing national and global importance of Southern storytelling. At a star-studded event that marks a landmark event for South India’s Media and Entertainment industry, JioHotstar announced an investment of Rs 4,000 billion over the next five years to boost the region’s creative economy.
Kamal Haasan on the success of pan-India films
Deputy CM Udhayanidhi Stalin, Tamil Development, Information and Publicity Minister Saminathan MP and executives of JioHotstar attended the event. Kamal Haasan said today’s stories are “screen agnostic” and follow the audience across different platforms. “Stories today are truly independent of the screen. They travel with the audience. The audience has become the platform. And when this happens, the relationship between the medium and the message changes forever. Stories do not belong to any screen; they always travel with the listener and belong to people. Screens only follow them,” said Kamal Haasan.
Highlighting the growing national and global importance of Southern storytelling, he highlighted films like ‘Kantara’, ‘Drishyam’, ‘Baahubali’, ‘Pushpa’, ‘Vikram’ and ‘Amaran’ and said the success of these films proves that originality is a currency that “can never be demonised”.
New national regional: Kamal Haasan
Drawing parallels with global successes like Squid Game, he noted that south Indian languages together are spoken by more than 275 million people, giving the region unprecedented potential for global reach, according to the press note shared by JioHotstar. “It is this tectonic shift that makes JioHotstar’s initiative so important for Tamil Nadu – not just in its ambition, but also in the architecture of opportunity it opens. In this new world, every Tamil creator, producer and storyteller can reach every Indian, every day, on every screen. Today, the regional is the new national, the ethnic the new international. Stories born in Madurai, Malappuram, Mandya or Machilipatnam are no longer ‘regional cinema’ – They are national cultural events,” he said. added Kamal Haasan, according to the press note.
Kamal Haasan emphasized that a thriving creative economy also needs strong ecosystems of creators, technicians, platforms and supportive policies. The ‘South Unlimited’ Letter of Intent signed between the Tamil Nadu government and JioHotstar marks a commitment of ₹12,000 crore to southern storytelling, with over ₹4,000 crore earmarked for Tamil Nadu over the next five years.
During his speech, Kamal Haasan described the M&E environment as one shaped by a young audience, rapid digital expansion, a regional surge influencing national tastes, supportive government policies and global interest in Indian ideas. “There has never been a better time to be a storyteller,” he said, urging the industry to seize the moment or risk losing out.
