Number-game: 'Saaho' hits BO jackpot with Rs 80 cr on debut; 'Mission Mangal' becomes Akshay's highest grossing film

Dulquer, the son of Malayalam megastar Mammootty, chose 'Karwaan', a film that was made on a much smaller budget. Still, the Akarsh Khurana directorial earned a spot in the top 10 Indian movies of 2018, determined by global movie website IMDb customer ratings. He also made his debut in Telugu with "Mahanati", based on the life of actress Savitri.

In an interview with IANS, the "Kali" star, who is one of the rare actors to debut four times, had said: "I am not saying that I am entitled to a big debut in Malayalam film or any language."

But he asserted that his "primary focus will be Malayalam films" and that he will choose from "what comes my way and take a call irrespective of the language".

(Image: Dulquer Salmaan/Instagram)

For Aishwarya Devan, who has acted in Malayalam, Tamil and Kannada language films, it was her role that pulled her towards the Hindi film "Kaashi in Search of Ganga".

"I haven't done many strong roles in south films, so I am very happy that my debut role in Bollywood is of a strong female character," Aishwarya, who played a journalist in the film, had said.

(Image: Aishwarya Dewan/Instagram)

The year 2018 also saw veteran actress Supriya Pathak making her debut in Telugu filmdom with "Aravindha Sametha Veera Raghava", helmed by Trivikram Srinivas.

"I really enjoyed working with the people. It was wonderful. My director was a wonderful person. I hope I get an opportunity to work there again," said the actress, who had starred in the 1985 Malayalam movie "Akalathe Ambili".

"Those days, a lot of Hindi films were made in south India. Then also, it was much more organised than in Mumbai or north India. My idea of south (Indian film industry) was always that it was more organised and that attracts you because it has got discipline. People are professionals and, still, there is a kind of basic emotion surrounding it and very work-oriented," said Supriya, whose mother tongue is Gujarati.

Pankaj Tripathi made his Tamil film debut with Rajinikanth film "Kaala".

Neil Nitin Mukesh, who featured in the 2014 Tamil film "Kaththi" by A.R. Murugadoss, made his Telugu debut with "Kavacham" this month. He will also be seen in Prabhas-starrer "Saaho", which will be Shraddha Kapoor's maiden film in Telugu.