There’s always been a debate or some sort of discussion over Bollywood and South Indian cinema, with actors from various industries having various things to say. This debate has become more predominant in recent times, with the way South Cinema has been growing in the North and the lack of any solid Bollywood movie in recent times. Here’s what different South Indian actors had to say about Bollywood:
Superstar Mahesh Babu recently caused a major stir when he said Bollywood couldn’t afford him, with a few Bollywood producers taking offence to this statement. However, that has been the actor’s stance for a long time. He had, on multiple occasions, said that he was offered Bollywood films but that he chose not to do them, as he’s comfortable doing just Telugu cinema and is happy with the massive following and adoration that he gets from the Telugu audience.
Priyamani is a terrific actress who has brought to life many powerful roles with her powerful performances. She even made a lasting impact on Bollywood with Mani Ratnam’s Raavan and, most recently, The Family Man series. Citing the examples of actresses like Sridevi, Rekha, Hema Malini, and Vyjayanthimala, Priyamani noted that there was once a time when South actresses ruled Bollywood and that there was also a time when South Indians were made fun of in Hindi films. She also noted that this has now changed, with South technicians predominantly working for Hindi cinema in the technical fields.
Being the daughter of a Hindi actress and of Kamal Haasan, who is also a very familiar face in Hindi, one would expect Shruti to be more comfortable with Hindi cinema. However, the actress mentioned several times that she’s always felt like an outsider in Hindi cinema, as the divide between the South and the North is very much talked about, and pointed out in Bollywood. She also mentioned that she always felt at home with Telugu and Tamil cinema.
Yash became a household name thanks to the super success of the KGF franchise. Speaking about how the North audience is embracing South cinema, he said that this didn’t happen instantly, as the North Indian audience has been exposed to South cinema for decades now through the dubbed versions of South cinema, which is why they are embracing South cinema this well.
Dhanush is probably the only actor in recent times to have broken language barriers before any of his peers from any other industries in the country, as he has worked on several Hindi films and became a noted actor in Hindi as well. He said that he was always against the divide between North and South and that he’s happy that this divide is decreasing rapidly.
While his first pan-Indian release may have only come out last year, in the form of Pushpa, Allu Arjun has been a familiar face to the Indian audience, thanks to his impeccable dancing skills. Speaking about a possible debut in Bollywood, Bunny said that one has to be careful when entering a new industry, as it is highly risky because there’s a lot that’s dependent on you, and things can’t go sideways, which is why it’s always important to be careful.
Taking the example of Salman Khan’s Tweet, which stated how the North audience accepts the dubbed versions of South cinema but that the South audience is not accepting of the dubbed versions of Hindi cinema, Ram Charan said that the South audience would accept any film with open arms as long as the content speaks to them and crosses regional and language barriers.
