Zarina Wahab reveals why she prefers working in Telugu cinema over Bollywood: ‘Sirf South main family abhi bhi zinda hai’

Zarina Wahab is currently gearing up for the release of her upcoming Telugu movie, The Raja Saab. (Express archive photo)

Although Zarina Wahab did not achieve the kind of stardom that her peers like Zeenat Aman, Shabana Azmi, and Jaya Bachchan did, she did manage to earn a name for herself in Indian cinema and, over the past five decades, has worked in major industries across the country. Born in Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh, making her a Telugu by birth, it was, however, in Bollywood that Zarina made her debut.

After completing an acting course at the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) in Pune, she moved to Mumbai to chase her cinematic dreams and eventually made her debut in Dev Anand’s Ishk Ishk Ishk (1974). Since then, she has worked in Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam, and Kannada languages as well, alongside Hindi, thus leaving her mark everywhere.

Although she is still active in Bollywood, with her most recent appearance being in Gopichand Malineni’s Sunny Deol-starrer Jaat (2025), Zarina Wahab has stated that she prefers doing South Indian films over Hindi ones. The reason she gave was the dearth of family movies in Bollywood compared to its regional counterparts. Zarina is currently gearing up for the release of her upcoming movie, director Maruthi’s Prabhas-led The Raja Saab.

“I have been working in the industry for more than 40 years now. I am from Andhra, so I can speak good Telugu, much better than anybody else. Everybody kept asking me why I wasn’t working in Telugu films. I’ve worked in a few, but this film (The Raja Saab) is bringing me more fame,” she said during an event.

Mentioning that she is nowadays often asked why she takes up more acting roles in Telugu than in Hindi, Zarina said that the reason is that Bollywood is no longer churning out family-oriented films. “People in Bombay ask me, ‘Why are you doing Telugu films?’ Hindi films main family mar gayi hai. There’s no family. Sirf South main family abhi bhi zinda hai (The concept of family has died in Hindi; it’s only alive in the South). They (South directors) produce such family-oriented films that people love to watch. I am currently working on 2-3 more Telugu movies,” the veteran actor said, adding “I am very thankful to the Telugu industry now, and I was very, very thankful to the Hindi industry also.”

Also starring Sanjay Dutt, Boman Irani, Malavika Mohanan, Nidhhi Agerwal, and Riddhi Kumar in key roles, The Raja Saab boasts music by Thaman S, cinematography by Karthik Palani, editing by Kotagiri Venkateswara Rao, and production design by Rajeevan. The horror comedy will hit the screens on January 9, coinciding with Sankranti.