Anupam Kher on Bollywood vs South debate: ‘They are telling stories, we are selling stars'

Actor Anupam Kher, whose Telugu film ‘Karthikeya 2’ has become a box office hit after his Hindi film ‘The Kashmir Files’, opened up about the ongoing debate of Bollywood vs South. In an exclusive interview with ETimes, the actor said that Hindi films majorly fail to perform at the box office because they focus on stars, while South prioritises content.

‘You make things for consumers. (Problem starts) the day you start looking down on consumers, that, ‘we're doing you a favor by making a great film. Now you are watching a great film. Greatness is achieved by a collective effort and that I have learned by doing films in Telugu...I just did another film in Telugu, I did a film in the Tamil language, I’m going to do a Malayalam film,’ the actor said.

He added, ‘I think over there, I’m not differentiating between the two but I think (their) cinema is relevant because they are not coping Hollywood. They are telling stories, over here we are selling stars.’

Read More:- Anupam Kher reacts to cancel culture: ‘It’s nonsense to say films don’t work because of boycott trends’

He also discussed the recent cancel culture and films meeting a tragic fate at the box office in his conversation with India TV. He said that it’s the choice of the audience to accept and reject any kind of content. He concluded by saying that the filmmaker should think about the choice of content instead of ‘crying over the boycott culture’.

‘The Kashmir Files was boycotted too. Many renowned critics said it should not be watched. The same thing happened with The Accidental Prime Minister. We did not cry over it. Content is very important. Nikhil (Siddhartha) is not known in the Hindi belt but I have seen people whistling in cinema halls after watching Karthikeya 2. We like to coin new terms like 'boycott culture'. A movie critic has the power to tell people to watch a film or not. But that does not mean the audience will actually not watch it. The audience has the power to make or break anyone,’ he told India TV.

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