The ever-raving controversy between South Indian cinema and Bollywood has surfaced again as 2024 witnesses Telugu films overtaking Hindi movies at the box office.
Although Bollywood briefly reclaimed some of its lost ground in 2023 through Jawan, Gadar and Animal, the talk switched back to South cinema, especially after Nag Ashwin’s Kalki 2898 AD, primarily a Telugu movie, out-grossed all Hindi films in India in that year.
Amidst this, filmmaker Nikkhil Advani recently shared a compelling insight from Telugu superstar Allu Arjun, who rose to pan-Indian fame with his 2021 blockbuster Pushpa: The Perfect Storm.
In an interview with Galatta Plus, Nikkhil recalled that Allu Arjun once pointed out a critical issue he sees in Bollywood today: “You all have forgotten how to be heroes,” Nikkhil said, quoting Allu in the interview.
Nikkhil further expanded on Allu’s observation and said how ‘mass’ South Indian films have been able to capture these traces of the hero sentiment even in a rather monotonous subject like water irrigation.
The South Indian industry accompanies these themes with great action and instances of outright heroes CS in dusky faces, which drives home these themes.
“Everyone considers south cinema as mythology and the like, but they take the essence, water irrigation, for instance, let’s make a film on this and now they have wrapped it in simple fantastic action, moments of sheer heroism,” said Nikkhil.
Looking back at Bollywood, Nikkhil discussed movies like Kaalia and Coolie in which heroes are portrayed by Amitabh Bachchan, who was a new cozy representation of larger-than-life.
He also took the instance of Shah Rukh Khan in Kabhi Haan Kabhi Naa, where he is not a traditional hero but still portrays a heroism that is clearly absent from most modern films.
However, it is rather amusing that Allu Arjun, in his earlier interviews, has demonstrated his love for Bollywood. He further explained that actors in the various product industries of India remain loyal to one another as they consider each other as ‘brothers’.
He agreed with the interconnection between Bollywood and South cinema, acknowledging that Bollywood, though going through a phase, has been assembling great cinema for well over sixty years.
