The first pan-India film starred a cinema legend and was released in eight different language versions, all of which were hit.
The term pan-India has gained currency in Indian cinema over the last decade. Most people regard SS Rajamouli’s Baahubali series as the stimulus that brought this fad to national prominence. But many argue that while Baahubali did popularise the term, pan-India films had existed before it without being explicitly termed that. The first of these actually released way back in the 1950s and created box office sensation across India.
The first pan-India film was...
In 1959, Kannada filmmaker BS Ranga produced and directed the mythological film Mahishasura Mardini, widey recognised as the first pan-India film. The film was dubbed in seven other languages, with the Hindi version getting a separate title of Durga Maata. Shot in Madras, the film was released in all its eight versions and was a runaway success. While the original Kannada version was a blockbuster, the other dubbed versions more than recovered their costs as well. The film was a major box office success and among the highest-grossing Indian films of 1959
The cinema legend who headlined Mahishasura Mardini
The film starred superstar Rajkumar, widely acknowledged as the biggest name in Kannada cinema history. By 1959, Rajkumar had established himself as a leading hero in Kannada cinema but this film and several around this time catapulted him to superstardom. Rajkumar woud remain the numero uno hero in Kannada cinema till the 1970s. Mahishasura Mardini was the first film where Rajkumar gave playback as well.
Pan-India films after Mahishasura Mardini
For decades after Mahishasura Mardini, no other Indian film was dubbed in more than three languages. There were several films that did good business across India without dubs though. Mughal-e-Azam and Sholay are examples. It was only in the 90s that Kamal Haasan restarted the trend by dubbing or remaking his Tamil hits in Hindi. Films like Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge, Dil Se, Raavan, and Enthiran had pan-India appeals through dubbed versions. Then in 2015 came Baahubali and the rest, as they say, is history.
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 "Mahishasura Mardini, the first pan-India film")
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