South Indian cinema proved to be the lucky charm this year for Bollywood. Movies, actors and songs like ‘Kolaveri di‘ left a mark on the Hindi film industry like never before.Riding high on the trend was actor Salman Khan, who seems to be keen on making a Hindi remake of every hit movie from the South. He started with Wanted and kept the cash registers ringing by starring in Ready and Bodyguard, which were also remakes of movies from the South.Salman’s second hit of the year Bodyguard, opposite Kareena Kapoor, was a remake of a Malayalam film of the same name. It was directed by Siddique, who also directed the original.The actor is starring in another remake Kick, which will be directed by Shirish Kunder and hit theatres next year.Ajay Devgn and John Abhraham were quick to follow suit, starring in Singham and Force, which predictably did well at the box office.It was not only Devgn’s action sequences which kept the audience glued. Actor Prakash Raj’s one liners were an instant hit.Force, another action thriller film starring John Abraham and Genelia Dsouza, was a remake of Gautham Menon’s successful 2003 Tamil film, Kaakha Kaakha. John was seen in an action role in the movie after a long time.

Southern remakes have been a part of Bollywood since the 90′s with films like Judwaa, Nayak, Khushi, Shakti, Mr and Mrs Khiladi, Sunday, Ghajini and Wanted, but the trend had been missing for a while. The year 2011 saw the return of the ‘Southern touch’ in the industry.It wasn’t just Southern remakes which created a rage. Tamil-English song ‘Kolaveri Di‘, sung by Rajinikanth’s son-in-law Dhanush took the industry by storm.‘Why This Kolaveri Di’ which means ‘Why this murderous rage, girl?’, a funny take on heartbreak, became an online craze and attracted fans like Amitabh Bachchan. Dhanush also tweaked his song as ‘Kolaveri B’ in honour of Big B.Akshay Kumar has reportedly bought the rights to the song and plans to make a Hindi version of it. Thanks to its popularity, Dhanush is also said to be planning his debut in Hindi cinema.The year came to a close with Vidya Balan’s dare-bare act in The Dirty Picture, a story inspired by Southern sex siren Silk Smitha. Through her acting, Vidya gave a depth to the tragic star, forcing audiences to sympathise with Silk.

The year also saw some of the biggest from south making their Bollywood debut.Southern superstar Prakash Raj redefined the bad man in Bollywood with films like Wanted and Singham. The national award winning actor, who has made hits like Iruvar, Kanchivaram, Nuvve, Tagore and Sivakasi down
South, will reportedly also be seen in Sunny Deol starer Ghayal returns, a sequel to Deol’s 1990 film Ghayal.A new face that made a debut in the industry was Kajal Agarwal with the film Singham. Actor Rana Daggubati also tasted success with his debut in Dum Maaro Dum opposite Bipasha Basu. He has also bagged his second movie role in Ram Gopal Varma’s Department. Last year, Tamil superstar Suriya made his Bollywood debut with Rakta Charitra.