Sony Pictures Entertainment India announced its foray into the regional space last month with a Malayalam project. Karan Johar’s Dharma Productions is making a Marathi film ‘Bucket List’ with Madhuri Dixit, Viacom18 is following up ‘Aapla Manus’ with ‘Cycle’ and Punjabi film ‘Nanak Shah Fakir’. There is a marked rise in occupancy at cinema chains for regional films. And the statistics back his argument: BookMyShow reported average occupancy of 45-46% for regional films in 2017, compared to around 39-40% in 2016, according to the Ficci-EY Media and Entertainment Industry Report 2017.