India is the largest producer of movies in the entire world. Bollywood, Kollywood, Tollywood, Sandalwood, Mollywood and other regional cinema industries together produce more movies than any nation in the world.
However, there is no hiding from the fact that Tollywood and Sandalwood have been producing blockbuster movies. Films like Baahubali 1, Baahubali 2, RRR, Pushpa part 1, KGF 1, and KGF 2 have received tremendous responses from fans all across the country.
Meanwhile, Bollywood star Salman Khan asked why Hindi films don’t work in the South. To which, KGF star Yash came up with a response. “It’s not like that. Our films also never used to get this kind of reception, but what is happening from that part of the world, they have started playing dubbed versions here, people became familiar with the content of what we are creating.
I think initially it started as a joke for entertainment because that show they used to treat it that way, but that is because of the kind of dubbing they used to do, nobody used to give importance to this space.”
He went on to add saying that the Hindi-speaking audience is more familiar with their way of storytelling, something that didn’t happen overnight. Yash also went on to thank filmmaker SS Rajamouli and actor Prabhas for paving the way.
“But what worked today is people got familiar with our way of storytelling, our cinema, so it has not happened overnight. That has been there for a few years and eventually, they started understanding the content, the expression of the direction, and everything. And then we got a straight instant connection with Baahubali, SS Rajamouli sir, Prabhas, they took that initiative followed by KGF – it also entered with a commercial angle.”
The actor has also highlighted that the 2 cultures have their differences. He further claimed that there have been movies from the north that have been massive hits down south, as reported by ETimes.
“In our culture, there are a lot of differences, and that should become our strengths rather than becoming our weaknesses. If they can spend the time and give us, do something relatable, in the end, it is all about relatability, there are lots of films from the North that are massive hits.
“We have watched a lot of films with Hindi stars, we all love them, but the market potential – have they lived up, penetrated it – definitely, there is a huge potential, what I feel. It isn’t that we don’t watch, we have been watching them but the thing is maybe they should see other aspects also other than just releasing the film – the way you collaborate with people, good distribution, like how we had Excel Entertainment here, they need to come with good production houses there – who can sell the movie and I would like to see that situation where film releases pan India and I hope that happens soon.”