As we all know that the South Indian films are having a huge applaud in the North Indian region, especially the Hindi belt, wide discussions have been going on in the social media and several prominent figures from the Bollywood industries as well. Not only that, Bollywood is now set to remake a number of South films. They are speechless over the massive success of films starting from Baahubali, then KGF Chapter 2, RRR, Pushpa: The Rise.
It seems that Bollywood has run out of stories and scripts and they are looking towards the South. Amid several debates, actor Manoj Bajpayee claimed that the success of above mentioned films has “sent a shiver down the spine” of Bollywood filmmakers.
Allu Arjun’s Telugu film Pushpa: The Rise, started the trend of south films dominating in the Hindi belt, in the post-pandemic era. The film’s Hindi-dubbed version grossed ₹106 crore. To a better impression, then SS Rajamouli’s RRR and Yash-starrer Kannada film KGF: Chapter 2 broke new ground. The Hindi versions of both films have grossed over ₹300 crore each and are still running in theatres.
Talking about the success of these south films, Manoj Bajpayee told Delhi Times, “Itni blockbuster ho rahi hai (there are so many blockbusters)… forget about Manoj Bajpayee and the likes of me for a minute, it has sent a shiver down the spine of all the mainstream filmmakers from the Mumbai film industry. They really don’t know where to look.”
The actor said these films’ success has a lesson for Bollywood, one they need to learn quickly. “They are unapologetic, they are passionate, and every shot they take as if they are taking the best shot in the world…They shoot a film as they have envisioned it, they don’t dumb it down for the audience because they hold their audience in the highest regard and their passion is supreme. If you see Pushpa or RRR or KGF, the making of it – it is immaculate.”
“Each and every frame is actually shot in a manner as if it were a life and death situation. This is what we lack. We started thinking about mainstream films only in terms of money and box office. We can’t criticise ourselves. So we differentiate them by calling them ‘alag’ (different). But it’s a lesson. This is a lesson for Mumbai industry mainstream filmmakers on how to make mainstream cinema,” he added.