Actor Allu Sirish, brother or Telugu star Allu Arjun, believes the absence of a Telugu-dubbed version of Aditya Dhar’s Dhurandhar was a “huge missed opportunity”. The actor said Hindi studios should take cues from films like Animal, which expanded its reach by releasing in multiple regional languages.
Speaking about the growing acceptance of pan-Indian cinema with Variety India, Sirish pointed out that audiences across South India are increasingly open to watching Hindi films. However, he believes many Bollywood producers fail to tap into that market because they do not prioritise dubbing their films into regional languages.
Referring specifically to Dhurandhar, Sirish claimed the decision to skip a Telugu version limited the film’s reach and potential box-office earnings.
“I think Hindi filmmakers should put more focus on releasing their content here,” Sirish said, adding, “Dhurandhar not being dubbed into Telugu was a huge opportunity missed. Imagine how much more business it could have done and how many more eyeballs it could have reached if it had released in Telugu as well.”
According to the actor, the growing success of Telugu films in North India proves that language barriers are no longer a major concern for audiences.
“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,” he said. Sirish continued, “There is no bias. Most of the negativity you see online is just internet noise. The audience doesn’t care.”
Stating examples of Sandeep Vanga’s Animal and Laxman Utekar’s Chhaava, Sirish also urged Hindi studios to adopt a more consistent approach to regional releases rather than treating them as occasional experiments.
“I feel Hindi studios should be more proactive in releasing their content here and not treat it as a one-off activity. They should learn a little from Animal’s playbook, because the Telugu version here also collected a sizeable amount,” the actor said.
Released in 2023, Animal, was dubbed into Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam and Kannada, helping it reach audiences across India and significantly boost its overall collections. Chhaava, on the other hand, was later dubbed in Telugu and released in theatres on March 7, 2025, due to high demand.
Meanwhile, the sequel, Dhurandhar 2, is scheduled to release on March 19.
