The famous South Indian film industry actor Mahesh Babu recently made headlines for his remark on Bollywood. He went ahead and said, “Bollywood cannot afford me.”
Now, this has buzzed a lot of opinions in the industry. From Ranveer Singh, Kangana Ranaut, and many more, we compiled a list of things people in the industry have said.
1. Kangana Ranaut
Kangana agrees with Mahesh Babu’s statement and feels Bollywood cannot afford Mahesh Babu, here’s why:
He’s right, Bollywood cannot afford Mahesh Babu because I know for a fact that many filmmakers offer him many movies and he and his generation single handedly have made the Telugu film industry the number 1 film industry in India. So now, Bollywood can definitely not afford them.
2. Ranveer Singh
Ranveer believes it is never ‘us VS them’ for him, and he is a great admirer of South films too.
It is not them and us. I look at it as one. I have collaborated with my counterpart actors from the South, like Mahesh Babu. I watched Dhanush, Allu Arjun, Ram Charan, Tarak (Jr NTR), and Mahesh Babu, and I am a great admirer of their craft. One of my favourite movies and filmmakers of all time are all the people who work in Chennai – Mani Ratnam, and AR Rahman – they are all legends!
3. Mukesh Bhatt
Mukesh Bhatt thinks it is his personal choice and wishes Mahesh all the best for the future.
If Bollywood can’t afford his price, then very good. I wish him all the best. I respect where he comes from. He has talent and he has an ‘X’ value for the talent that he has generated over the years. He is a very successful actor and keeping to his requisite of what he wants to get in terms of gratification of our films, if Bollywood cannot work to his expectations, then there is nothing wrong with it. I wish him all the best. Each one to its own.
4. Ram Gopal Varma
Ram Gopal Varma too shared his views on the topic and raised some questions.
It is his choice as an actor. But I honestly didn’t understand what he meant by Bollywood can’t afford him. I am still unable to figure out what he meant by that because the point is, if you see the recent South Indian films, they were dubbed and released and they made whatever money they did. Also, first of all, Bollywood is not a company. It is a label given by the media. An individual movie company or a production house will ask you to do a film at a particular cost, so how can he generalise Bollywood, I don’t understand that. Bollywood is not a company, so his context is not understood.
5. Boney Kapoor
Boney Kapoor has worked in both Bollywood and South. Though he refused to comment on the topic, he thinks Mahesh has the right to say whatever he feels.
I can’t comment on this because I belong to both sides, Bollywood and South. I have done films in Tamil, and Telugu and soon will be doing a Malayalam and a Kanada film. So I am not the right person to comment on this. Also, Mahesh has the right to say whatever he feels and he probably feels the Hindi film industry may not be able to afford him. He may have his own reasons for saying this. To each is his own opinion, who are we to comment? I am the last person to comment on this. If he feels that way, it is good for him.
5. Suniel Shetty
Suniel Shetty talked about the Bollywood vs south industry and said:
I think the Bollywood vs south industry scene has been created on social media. We are Indians and if we look at the OTT platform, language does not matter there, content does matter. Similarly, this is the difference between Bollywood vs. South industry. I also come from the South, but my Karmabhoomi is Mumbai, so I am called a Mumbaikar.
Read more: From Salman To Nawazuddin, 8 Times Bollywood Celebs Spoke About The South Indian Film Industry.