In recent times, the South Indian film industries have been rushing ahead of Bollywood, leaving them behind in almost every parameter. Be it box office success, international exposure, or audience interest, the South film industries have been outperforming Bollywood with ease.
Recently, during an interview with the Humans of Cinema YouTube channel, filmmaker Anurag Kashyap spoke in detail about the difference between actors of South India as compared to Bollywood stars, and the overall contrast between the North and South film industries.
Anurag Kashyap mentioned Mammootty as an example, hailing his creative choices in the recent past. Talking about Mammootty, the Gangs of Wasseypur director said, “I don’t understand nor believe in the concept of superstardom. But I believe that Mammootty, as an actor, at this stage in his career, is taking so many chances. On the one hand he played the devil in Bramayugam. Then he did Kaathal: The Core. He’s constantly taking chances. He believes in the filmmaker and goes ahead. Here what happens is that if you approach a star, they want to first know if they have a hit on their hands. They want that guarantee. So, you have to hustle.”
Kashyap also said that the South film industries have taken many commendable decisions, like capping ticket prices and theaters providing smaller films a platform. His major criticism was that South India is more cinema-literate than the North, where movies revolve around a star and not the story.
Speaking of the same, Anurag Kashyap said, “A small film doesn’t have the marketing budget to compete with a big film, which is why the small film cannot survive. But that’s not how things are in the South. There’s equality there. It doesn’t matter if it’s a newcomer’s film or Mohanlal’s film; they’ll get equal visibility. We don’t have that in the Hindi industry.”
Kashyap then added that in Bollywood, you have to first convince the star that the project will be a superhit before he considers signing on, no matter how successful the director is. “They don’t consider the project you’re presenting to them; they look at your last film, whether it worked at the box office or not. So there’s a massive difference between Hindi and South. Over there, if you’ve made a good film, even if it’s a small film, an actor will want to work with you.”
For those who don’t know, Mammootty, in the last few years, has starred in acclaimed films like Nanpakal Nerathu Mayakkam, Kaathal: The Core, and Bramayugam. He also starred in conventional mainstream projects such as Bheeshma Parvam, Kannur Squad, and Turbo.
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