For many years now, Bollywood actors have been migrating to the south for better career prospects. Many actors and, more so, actresses have been dabbling regularly in south Indian flicks.

Some of the female stars who could not make it big in Hindi have made the southern film industry their permanent abode. Nagma, Bhumika Chawla and Madhu are the most prominent examples.

But even established heroines like Raveena Tandon, Urmila Matondkar, Manisha Koirala and Shilpa Shetty have featured in south Indian movies on and off.

Only recently we were told that Ayesha Takia was in the race for the heroine's role in a Tamil flick opposite Rajnikant, titled "Sivaji". The role eventually went to a little known actress.

But Ayesha has already bagged the Telugu film "Super" to talk about. Starring Nagarjuna and Ayesha Takia, it is a big hit in Andhra Pradesh and also the costliest Telugu film till date.

But why do Bollywood actors fly south, and not to any other regional segment, that often?

The first reason could be that the south Indian industry is as big as Bollywood. Talented filmmakers and actors operate there. The infrastructure and the technical razzle-dazzle are as competitive as in Bollywood.

Talented directors like Mani Ratnam, Adoor Gopalakrishnan, Shankar and Priyadarshan are influential in their own right and command great regard all over the country.

Not only that. Actors like Kamal Haasan, Rajnikant, Revathi and Nagarjuna have a huge fan following, not to talk about the genius called A.R. Rahman.

Secondly, the distribution of south Indian movies, especially Tamil and Telugu films, is first rate.

Southern films have got huge patronage in the Middle East and some Southeast Asian countries where there is a considerable Tamil-speaking population.

Last but not the least is the money factor.

Any actor in a south Indian film gets paid as much as a Hindi film star or sometimes even more.

Rajnikant has reportedly been paid Rs.150 million for his next film, an amount that is four-five times what superstars like Amitabh and Shah Rukh Khan are offered!

But of late many Hindi stars have started opting for other regional films, especially Bengali. Abhishek Bachchan, Soha Ali Khan and Jackie Shroff starred in Rituparno Ghosh's "Antar Mahal".

Sanjay Dutt had a cameo appearance in the Marathi film "Bhiti" and singer Sonu Nigam had a guest role in Sachin's super-hit Marathi film "Nawra Maaza Nawsacha".

Amitabh Bachchan's walk-on part in the Kannada film "Amrithdhare" made the fans go berserk.

Similarly, Juhi Chawla played a pivotal role in a Punjabi film opposite Gurdas Mann.

Probably regional films also offer exciting opportunities. This is really good for Indian cinema as a whole when there is a healthy exchange of talent between Bollywood and its regional counterparts.