Long relegated to regional lists as more popular Hindi films from Bollywood dominated box offices, movies from South India in 2022 proved they were no longer content only being on the fringes.
Some of the year's highest-grossing films have come from the south, dwarfing big-budget Bollywood productions in terms of collections, as Hindi films struggled to draw audiences.
Kannada action film, KGF: Chapter 2, leads the pack having raked in more than 12.5 billion rupees ($151.7 million) at the global box office. A sequel to the 2018 hit KGF: Chapter 1, the film stars South Indian actor Yash in the lead, and also features a number of Bollywood actors including Sanjay Dutt and Raveena Tandon. It is now the highest-grossing Kannada film in history, as well as the third highest-grossing Indian film of all time.
Telugu epic RRR is a close second this year, directed by S S Rajamouli, whose 2015 film Baahubali: The Beginning is widely credited with kick-starting the wide appeal South Indian films now enjoy across multilingual India.
It's no surprise then that in movie database IMDb's 2022 list of top Indian stars, actors from the south of the country dominate. Aside from Bollywood star Alia Bhatt, who featured in four big hits this year including RRR, the Top 10 list is dominated by non Hindi-speaking actors.
Tamil star Dhanush, who made his big Hollywood debut with The Gray Man this year, leads the pack. A known face in Bollywood as well, Dhanush delivered three major hits, all in Tamil — the romantic comedy Thiruchitrambalam, action film Maaran and the horror thriller Naane Varuven.
Bhatt, who was honoured with Time magazine's Impact Awards in October, is at No 2, having delivered four consecutive hits: Gangubai Kathiawadi, RRR, Darlings and Brahmastra Part One: Shiva, which also features her husband Ranbir Kapoor. Brahmastra Part One: Shiva is also the highest-grossing Hindi film of the year, despite having received mixed reviews.
Bollywood actress Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, who made her return to films after four years, is at No 3, but is credited for her Tamil-language film Ponniyin Selvan: Part I. Even with only one film, Rai Bachchan managed to stay in the headlines, making news with her show-stopping looks at the Cannes film festival.
Hrithik Roshan, whose Abu Dhabi-shot Vikram Vedha was one of the year's most acclaimed Hindi films, and Kiara Advani, who starred two hits — Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2 and Jugjugg Jeeyo — are the only other Bollywood stars on the list, coming in at No 6 and No 7 respectively.
The rest of the list is made up of South Indian actors — RRR star Ram Charan is at No 4, while actress Samantha Ruth Prabhu, who predominantly works in Telugu and Tamil films, is at No 5.
N T Rama Rao Jr, who also stars in RRR, is at No 8, while Telugu actor Allu Arjun at No 9 and KGF: Chapter 2 star Yash at No 10 round up the list.
IMDb's top 10 Indian stars of 2022
1. Dhanush
2. Alia Bhatt
3. Aishwarya Rai Bachchan
4. Ram Charan
5. Samantha Ruth Prabhu
6. Hrithik Roshan
7. Kiara Advani
8. N T Rama Rao Jr
9. Allu Arjun
10. Yash
Director: Laxman Utekar
Cast: Vicky Kaushal, Akshaye Khanna, Diana Penty, Vineet Kumar Singh, Rashmika Mandanna
Rating: 1/5
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Who has been sanctioned?
Daniella Weiss and Nachala
Described as 'the grandmother of the settler movement', she has encouraged the expansion of settlements for decades. The 79 year old leads radical settler movement Nachala, whose aim is for Israel to annex Gaza and the occupied West Bank, where it helps settlers built outposts.
Harel Libi & Libi Construction and Infrastructure
Libi has been involved in threatening and perpetuating acts of aggression and violence against Palestinians. His firm has provided logistical and financial support for the establishment of illegal outposts.
Zohar Sabah
Runs a settler outpost named Zohar’s Farm and has previously faced charges of violence against Palestinians. He was indicted by Israel’s State Attorney’s Office in September for allegedly participating in a violent attack against Palestinians and activists in the West Bank village of Muarrajat.
Coco’s Farm and Neria’s Farm
These are illegal outposts in the West Bank, which are at the vanguard of the settler movement. According to the UK, they are associated with people who have been involved in enabling, inciting, promoting or providing support for activities that amount to “serious abuse”.
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
The specs
Engine: Dual 180kW and 300kW front and rear motors
Power: 480kW
Torque: 850Nm
Transmission: Single-speed automatic
Price: From Dh359,900 ($98,000)
On sale: Now
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