Love Today to Balagam: 5 hit South movies with no star power which proved content is the king

The South film industry has been flying with glory, not just big movies like RRR, Ponniyin Selvan, and KGF became a hit, but small-budget movies with no star-studded cast also became super hits at the box office. The last few years have been an example of how content is everything. If you have a good script and talented actors in hand, the movie will surely reach audiences, and movies like Kantara, Balagam, Love Today, and more proved that. 

When a movie is announced, the initial question is who is the hero, heroine, or director. If it's someone we haven't heard of much, basically audiences used to not show much interest. However, things have changed now. With no star power at all and a low budget, some excellent movies hit the cinema halls this time and became superhits. They proved that a film shouldn't be judged on the cast, technicians, or budget. In the end, it's only the story and performance that describes how good the movie is. 

Here are 5 recent movies from the South that proved content is king

Love Today

The Tamil romantic film Love Today deserves to be the first on the list. The film had no such huge buzz or heavy promotions, which made audiences watch. Just word of mouth about how good it is. And soon, a film, which was made on a budget of 5 crores, earned the highest grossing film with Rs 150 crores at the box office.

Love Today featured no big star, not even an actor, who had a few movies. The film is made and acted by Pradeep Ranganathan, who made his directorial and acting debut. Ivana played the role of the female lead and her performance opened the gates of opportunities in the Tamil film industry. Although the film starred debutants in lead roles, it featured talented actors Yogi Babu, Sathyaraj, and Raadhika Sarathkumar in supporting roles. 

The story of Love Today revolves around a young couple who is made to exchange their phones for a week. The unique concept grabbed the audiences to theatres as it's so familiar to the everyday lives of today's generation. The film managed to unfold many emotions with just one thing, a mobile phone. In fact, it was so well received that the film was initially released only in Tamil but with massive response, it was later released in all South languages. A few days ago, it was also announced that Love Today will be remade in Hindi soon. 
 

Dada

Dada is another Tamil film, which features debutant actors and directors as well. An interesting storyline and great performances were the key factors to hit the right chord among the audiences. Dada was released theatrically on February 10, 2023, and received positive reviews from critics, and became a commercial success at the box office.

Kavin and Aparna Das' performance and chemistry were highly appreciated. It didn't have a lousy or mushy romance and showed a beautiful tale of accidental pregnancy and fatherhood. One reason why the film became such a massive hit is that it felt real, connected to audiences. It had no top budget, extravagant visuals, stars, or commercial elements, just a nice feel-good story. 
 

Balagam

Balagam was another surprising movie that turned out to be huge in the Telugu film industry. The film is a true star of how good actors are everything. The director picked Priyadarshan, who is known for his acting and comedy roles, as the main lead. Many of the cast are the actors from theatre. So basically, people had no idea about anyone from the film. And despite that, it reached every corner of the Telugu states and also got the actor recognition. 

Balagam was the directorial debut of Venu Yeldandi, who is known for his comic roles in Tollywood. He made a smashing debut as he pulled the crowd beyond his target audiences to the theatre and made them praise the film. Balagam, which revolves bereavement of a beloved family member, produced a significant amount of laughter, emotions, and family bonding. The climax was the gem of the film. 

Good performances and a storyline that touches the roots of audiences worked the best for Balagam. With good word of mouth and some amazing reviews, the film has stood out and shined bright. 

Masooda

It's very rare that people like horror movies as it's a difficult genre to pull audiences to watch. However, Masood did the job amazingly well. Yet again, the film features no big stars. Just veteran actor Sangeetha and debutant actors like Thiruveer, Kavya Kalyanram, and Subhalekha Sudhakar, who impressed with their performances. The film was released on November 18, 2022, and became a commercial success with box office collections above their small budget. 

More than spine-chilling scary elements, it has edge-of-the-seat thrilling moments, which made audiences hooked to the screens. Yet again, the debutant director just did the right job with his writing and direction. In fact, the end of the film, which confirms the second part has left audiences super intrigued.
 

Romancham

Malayalam movies have time and again proved that language is a barrier and the recently released film Romancham is one such. The cast of seven, Soubin Shahir, Arjun Ashokan, Sajin Gopu, Siju Sunny, and Abin Bino left the theatre roaring with laughter the whole time and cheering with the performance and comedy timing. The film, which was made of Rs 1.75 crores, did an extraordinary job by collecting Rs 39 crores from the worldwide market. 

Debutant filmmaker Jithu Madhavan, the film is about seven bachelors who attempt to communicate with spirits, and a ghost named Anamika makes contact. Is that something every hostel student tried once? Well, that's where the audience is. Along with horror, it has oodles of laughter and you know a film is good when you see the entire theatre enjoying it.

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