Every time Ventatesh turns in style and says, ‘Nenu evaru anedhi mystery, nanu catch cheyalante history, meeru chudaboyedhi naa victory’ in his latest Telugu film Shadow, the dialogue garners deafening whistles.

The beautiful and sensuous Konkona Sen Sharma in Bengali film Goynar Baksho is making many fans head to the nearest cinema halls. And all this is happening in the heart of the capital where regional film releases are not a rarity anymore.
Traditionally believed to be a Hindi film market, the city is attracting attention of many regional filmmakers. Punjabi films Daddy Cool Munde Fool and Lucky Di Unlucky Story, Telugu film Shadow, Bengali film Goynar Baksho, Malayalam film Immanuel, and Bhojpuri film Ek Duje Ke Liye are some of the regional films running in the cinemas presently.
“With moviegoers recognising cinema as the medium of cultural representation, regional cinema is witnessing an emerging trend. During last one year we have shown more than 150 regional films in our city theatres. Recently Telugu film Eega collected roughly `11,33,472 in the city and NCR while Goynar Baksho is recording more than 70 percent footfall. Telugu films like Julayi, Cameraman Ganga Tho Rambabu and Pawan Kalyan’s Gabbar Singh, Bengali film Hemlock Society and Punjabi film Carry on Jatta all recorded around 60 percent footfall,” says Gautam Dutta, COO, PVR Cinemas Ltd. “Regional cinema is becoming big in many metro cities and there is a growing market for it. We run at least one or two shows of regional films daily,” says Anant Verma, business head at DT Cinemas.
Punjabi film director and writer Manmohan Singh says that around 10 years back when he released Jee Aayan Nu in Delhi it didn’t do well for the lack of audience. “Back then no one wanted to watch a film in any other language but Hindi. However, now films like Jatt and Juliet and Carry On Jatta have proved to be BO success. Filmmakers are also promoting their films in Delhi. While television and print media requires higher budget, radio and Internet are cheaper mediums being used for film promotions,” says Manmohan Singh.
Of all the regional films, Punjabi films bring in maximum audience to the cinemas followed by Tamil movies says Vivek Krishna from Fox Star Studios.
“To play it safe, we try to release only hit films like Vathikuchi in centres like Delhi. Tamil and Telugu films do well in areas like Vasant Vihar, Saket, Noida and Kaushambi majorly inhabited by Tamilians,” adds Krishna.
Meanwhile places like Rajouri Garden, Patel Nagar, Raja Garden and even Gurgaon are the best bets for Punjabi films. Big starcast attracts audience not just for Bollywood films but also for regional films. “Rajinikanth, Chiranjeevi, Nagarjuna, Siddharth, Venkatesh and Vijay have a huge fan base in metros,” says Krishna.
However, Singh insists that the regional market hasn’t been explored completely in Delhi yet. “The lack of film promotions and odd show timings play a spoilsport. As of now, regional films make about five to 10 per cent business of that of Hindi films in big cities. I believe the audience for regional cinema will only swell with time,” he adds.