The South Movie Industry is one of the biggest in the world and the South actor name is famous all over. Along with the movies, the South Movie Industry has given several superstars. These top South Indian actors don’t have just a pan Indian following but a worldwide following as well.
Movies of the South have been around the forties, but they began their pan Indian presence in earnest in the seventies, with many of the names bringing out a whole new flavour of the South Indian identity. We have had several superstars in the South.
Bollywood audiences didn’t know these movies and characters or the actors before the advent of cable television. Sometime in late 2010, the cable channels started airing dubbed South movies, making these names a household one even in the North and West of India.
Of course, the names like Rajnikanth, Chiranjeevi and Kamal Haasan have a pan India following. The newer crop of actors, like Prabhas, are getting adulation in other parts of India because of the blockbusters that they are associated with, for example, Baahubali.
The Top Actors of the South Indian Film Industry
Rajnikanth
There can be no article about the South film industry without Rajnikant. Rajnikant’s following is now beyond movies and entertainment. Rajnikanth is one of the first South actors to have a Pan India following. Decades ago, Rajnikanth collaborated with Amitabh Bachchan in Geraftaar and Hum. Today, Rajnikant is famous for his movies like Robot, Kabali and Kaala.
Rajnikanth has won several awards from the film fraternity, various social organisations and the Government since the 1970s. He won the Filmfare South award in 1984. He has consistently won awards from the Filmfans Association since 1979. Rajnikanth last won the Filmfans Association award for his films Baasha and Muthu. He won the Dadasaheb Phalke Awards by the Directorate of Film Festivals in 2021. Rajni has also won the honour of the Padma Bhushan and the Padma Vibhushan in 2000 and 2016.
Mohanlal
Mohanlal is a very famous actor from the South. He started his career in the seventies, along with Rajnikanth and has given several blockbusters. Like Rajnikanth, he has a pan Indian presence as well. He became famous in Bollywood with the movies like Ram Gopal Varma’s D Company and later on with the Bollywood remake of his thriller, Drishyam. Mohanlal’s pan Indian popularity has increased drastically with the release of the sequel to Drishyam, which was Amazon Prime streamed to great success.
Throughout his career, Mohanlal has won several awards as well as Government recognitions. He is one of the few actors who has an Honorary Blackbelt Taekwondo and an Honorary Doctorate. The former from the World Taekwondo Headquarters in South Korea, and the latter from the University of Calicut. The Government has bestowed on him the Padma Shri in 2001 and the Padma Bhushan in 2019. He has won four National Film Awards, starting from 1989 for Kireedam and then continuing in 1991 for Bharatam. He won the award again in 1989 for Vanaprastham. In 2016, he won the Special Jury Award for three of his films, including Janatha Garage.
Kamal Haasan
Kamal Haasan completes the triumvirate of the modern icons of the South Industry. He is popular in the South for his performances as well as his background in classical dancing. Kamal Haasan has been active in the South as well as in Bollywood. In Bollywood, he is most famous for movies like Ek Duje Ke Liye with Rati Agnihotri, Sadma with Sridevi, Chachi 420 with Tabu and the Hindustani and Vishwaroopam franchises.
Like his contemporaries, Kamal Haasan has won several awards and Government Recognition. He was conferred the Padma Shri in 1990 and the Padma Bhushan in 2014. He is one of the few Indian actors who have been conferred the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the Government of France. One of the first Government awards that he won was the Kalamamani award in 1980. In Bollywood, he has won the Best Actor award for Saagar. He also won the Best story Filmfare Award for Virasat. Haasan has won the Filmfare South awards since the early seventies. Kamal won his First Filmfare South for Best Actor for the Malayalam movie Kanyakumari. He won the Best Actor for Indian and Hey Ram in the year 2000.
Suriya
Suriya Sivakumar is a popular main lead from the South film industry. Audiences love him for his action-oriented roles. He gained popularity because of the Singam franchise, which is on its fourth movie. Suriya has won several awards and recognition. He has won four Filmfare Awards South and three Vijay Awards. He won three Tamil Nadu State Awards and won the National Award in 2003.
Vikram
Vikram is another highly regarded and famous actor in the South Industry. He won critical and pan Indian acclaim with his sci-fi movie ‘I’. It was the first time that a love story was interwoven in what was essentially a romantic drama. He has won the Kalamamani Award, seven Filmfare South Awards and a National Award. He made his debut in 1990, but his breakthrough was in 1999. Vikram won the National Award for Best Actor for his performance in Pithamagan in 2003.
Vikram is popular in the South Industry not just for his performances but for his physique too. That physique was at centre stage in the sci-fi movie ‘I’. ‘I’ was one of the several ambitious movies that are of the South. The movie worked wonders for the entire Indian film industry, as the foreign media noticed it.
Current Famous South Indian Actors
Vijay
Vijay is one of the most popular current crops of South Indian superstars. He has had several successful movies behind him. He generally plays the suave urban character who fights for what is right. His last release, Master, could be his most successful release to date. The movie was a smash hit and was a pan India success, thanks to the Amazon Prime release. There’s talk now of the Bollywood version of Master. With an open ending, we won’t be surprised if there’s a Master Sequel as well. Vijay is famous in Bollywood because some of his super successful movies have had a Bollywood outing.
Like the older guard of the South movies, Vijay has won several awards, both in India and abroad. He won the Kalamaamani award in 1998. He also won the National Film Awards of the UK in the year 2018 for Mersal. Star India has conferred several awards to him as well, from 2007 until 2018. He won his first Star India Award in 2006 as the Superstar of Tomorrow. In 2007, he won the Entertainer of the Year Award for Pokkiri.
Prabhas
Prabhas has become not just a Pan Indian superstar but somewhat with a global following. He has been part of two big-budget and highly successful movies, the Baahubali franchise and Saaho. Prabhas has acted in several other movies, and he is active in the South Film Industry since the eighties. Earlier, he has played the chocolate hero roles in movies like Rebel and Mirchi since the early 2000s.
Prabhas has won several and recognitions as well. Prabhas’ big break came in 2005, with Rajamouli’s Chatrapathi. But Baahubali was the movie that made him the superstar that he is today. He started winning awards right in 2004 for Varsham and then went on to win regularly for movies like Darling, Mirchi and of course, Baahubali.
More Famous South Indian Actors
Allu Arjun
Allu Arjun has carved a niche for himself in the South Industry. He is one of the few actors who hasn’t yet signed up for a movie in Bollywood. Allu Arjun is famous for his roles as a soft romantic. He is also one of the few actors of the South to feature in a meme, Arya 2.
Allu Arjun has also won several awards at various functions. He won the Best Debut at the CineMaa awards back in 2003. He has since then won for movies like Arya, Vedam, Race Gurram and others.
Ravi Teja
Ravi Teja is famous for his action roles in the South industry. His movies with Puri Jagannath are the stuff of legend. He made his debut in 1990 with the Karthvayam and made his debut as a lead in 1999 with Nee Kosam. Nee Kosam was a landmark movie for Ravi Teja, as it went on to win 5 Nandi awards. Since then, he has held the audience’s interest, playing varied characters. Ravi Teja has won several awards, including the Nandi Award for his debut, Nee Kosam.
South Indian Actors with Mass Appeal
Chiranjeevi
Chiranjeevi is one of the most famous South superstars. His fans fondly call him Chiru, and he is one of the few South Indian superstars who have a successful political career. Chiranjeevi became famous in Bollywood because of his movies like Pratibandh. The Government of India conferred on him the Padma Bhushan in 2006. He has won four Nandi Awards and nine Filmfare South Awards, including one for Lifetime Contribution, in 2010. Chiranjeevi is also one of the few actors, other than Junior NTR, who became famous for his dance steps.
Junior NTR
Junior NTR comes from the film family of NTR. He made his debut with the 2001 movie Nidu Choodalini. His big breakthrough was Student No. 1 in 2001. His greatest success until now is Aravinda Sametha Veera Raghava. He has won the Nandi Awards, Filmfare South Awards and Cinemaa Awards. He has also won the Zee Cinemalu Award in his stint.
Top South Indian Female Actors
Sridevi
The late actress Sridevi was a towering figure in the South as well as the Bollywood film industry. Sridevi has collaborated with almost every top director and actor in her time. Her most notable performances in the South was Sadma, in which she paired with the veteran Kamal Haasan. Sridevi has won several awards and recognition in her time. Even back in 1971, she won awards as a Child Artist for Poombatta at the Kerala State Film Awards.
Sridevi is one of the first and few actors of the South who had a parallel career in Bollywood, belting blockbusters like Chaalbaaz, Chandni and highly successful movies in the South, like Kshnam Kshnam and others.
Sridevi is the only person who’s on this list posthumously. She commanded a following in the South Movie industry as well as the Bollywood movie industry.
These are some of the most popular actors and actresses of the South. Most of them have made it to several prestigious lists, including the Forbes List of Richest Celebrities. Some of them, like Rajnikanth, Chiranjeevi and Kamal Haasan have nothing left to achieve and have dabbled in politics. While Rajnikanth pulled out at the last moment, Chiranjeevi and Kamal Haasan are still in the fray in South Indian politics.
Current Top Female South Indian Actors:
Shruti Haasan
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Shruti Haasan is Kamal Haasan’s daughter and one of the most prolific actors in South India. She might not have a great career in Bollywood, but she’s got a glowing and growing one in the South.
To Conclude
The movies of the South have a different flavour than that of the North, and the actors need to be politically aware. Recently, even actors like Rajnikanth have movies that are a political statement. While Master was about the criminal-politician nexus, Rajnikanth’s Kaala was about caste-based politics. Their movies give a different message to the audience. The actors and performers need to be at the top of their game in every movie. In the South, while the newer actors have seen struggle, even the veterans like Rajnikanth and Kamal Haasan have survived absolute Box Office debacles in their time, proving that they are much more than one movie.
These are the top actors in the South Indian movie fraternity. Do you agree with this list? Do you think we missed out on some? Tell us in the comments section. Also read our list of the Best Telegram Movie Channels in 2021 (English, Hindi, Tamil, Telegu).
