Southern films have emerged as blockbusters in a row, effectively luring the Hindi-speaking audience. The success of Allu Arjun’s Pushpa: The Rise started the trend of south films dominating the Hindi belt in the post-pandemic era. Later, SS Rajamouli’s Kannada film KGF: Chapter 2 starring Yash further pushed boundaries.
Bollywood, like the Indian audience, has recognised the success of films from the South film industry. Recently, in a conversation with Hindustan Times, Manoj Bajpayee spoke about what makes such films more popular than their Hindi cinema counterparts.
“Itni blockbuster ho rahi hai… 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.”
-Manoj Bajpayee to HT
Even anticipated blockbusters from the Hindi film industry have recently failed to reach the top of the box office. Meanwhile, Hindi dubbed films from the South are consistently hitting home runs.
Bajpayee also stated in the interview that the success of these films has a lesson for Bollywood, which they should soon learn. The actor believes that Southern filmmakers approach each shot as if it were the best shot in the world. Besides that, he asserted that these films are not dumbed down for the viewer because they value their audience.
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).
-Manoj Bajpayee to HT
Meanwhile, KGF Chapter 2 continues to break one record after another. With a total of ₹343 crores, it has now become the third highest-grossing film in Hindi history.