Mumbai, India – There is something telling about Telugu star Nani’s refusal to call The Paradise a ‘pan-India film’. At a time when filmmakers routinely use the label to signal scale, ambition, and a nationwide audience, the Telugu star seems aware that the term has lost some of its meaning. “It’s an over-abused word,” he said, raising a larger question about where the pan-India phenomenon stands in 2026, and whether the label that once promised a national theatrical audience still carries the same weight.
With The Paradise set to release on September 24, Nani was asked about the film’s multilingual release at a recent press conference. “We don’t want to call it a pan-India film. It’s an over-abused word. Apart from Telugu, it’s releasing in a few other languages. Definitely, Telugu is our prime target,” he said. The statement comes at a time when “pan-India” has become one of the most frequently used terms in the Indian film business. What began as a genuine theatrical phenomenon has gradually become a marketing push strategy.
Trade analyst Ramesh Bala believes the term has now been stretched far beyond its original meaning. “In the last few years, pan-India successes are only a handful. There is a misconception in the industry that if a movie is dubbed in five languages, then it’s considered a pan-India film,” he told India Today. “The pan-India term is now being loosely used by many films, even if it’s dubbed. It’s simply a marketing push,” Bala said, adding that if 20 to 30 films are pitched as pan-India films in a year, “hardly one or two succeed.”
The year has seen films such as Dhurandhar 2, Toxic, Peddi, Jana Nayagan, The Raja Saab, Dacoit: A Love Story, KD: The Devil, and I’m Game attempt to tap audiences beyond their home markets. Some have made substantial money in their native markets, but most of these big-budget spectacles simply opened big and went down with the speed of a shooting star. Toxic, despite Yash’s national visibility from KGF: Chapter 2, struggled to sustain momentum, while Jana Nayagan, Vijay’s final film, underperformed against expectations in Hindi markets.
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Meanwhile, some of the year’s most interesting theatrical performers were not born with pan-India ambition. Hanuman Ansh, a small Hindi film reportedly made on a budget of around ₹2 crore, became one of the year’s biggest surprise success stories through strong word of mouth. Films such as Bethlehem Kudumba Unit, Vaazha 2, Irumudi, and Aadu 3 have contributed to a different kind of cross-market movement—what Bala calls a “pan-South reception.” But even these films struggle to crack the Hindi market, which remains driven by action and superstar appeal. The biggest lesson from 2026, perhaps, is that the audience is no longer restricted by language, but they still need a reason to watch. A pan-India release can travel across languages and borders; the audience still has to choose to travel with it.
