Kerala: The ongoing debate between South actors and Bollywood over respect for each other’s work, like brothers, has gained renewed attention as Telugu films will outperform Hindi cinema at the box office in 2024. Despite Bollywood’s temporary resurgence in 2023 with hits like Jawaan, Gadar and Animal, the conversation has swung back in favour of South cinema, especially after the success of Nag Ashwin’s Kalki 2898 AD, which was a predominantly Telugu film and became the biggest Hindi-language film of the year. Meanwhile, filmmaker Nikkhil Advani recently shared a fascinating insight from Telugu superstar Allu Arjun, who rose to pan-India fame with his 2021 blockbuster Pushpa: The Rise. Nikkhil recalled in an interview with Galta Plus that Allu Arjun once pointed out a key issue in Bollywood: “You all have forgotten how to be a hero,” Nikkhil quoted Allu in the interview. Nikhil elaborated on Allu’s observation that South Indian films have successfully capitalised on the core emotions of heroism, even on seemingly mundane subjects like water irrigation. The South Indian industry presents these subjects with spectacular action and moments of pure heroism, making them connect deeply with the audience.
Heroism portrayed
Nikhil said, “Everyone thinks of South cinema as mythology and everything, but they take the core emotion of water irrigation, let’s make a film on it and now they have presented it with incredible action, incredible moments of heroism.” Reflecting on Bollywood’s past, Nikhil mentioned iconic films like Kaalia and Coolie, where Amitabh Bachchan’s characters depicted larger-than-life heroism. He also made a reference to Shah Rukh Khan’s role in Kabhi Haan Kabhi Naa, which, despite being an unconventional hero, still depicts a heroic spirit that is missing in many films of today. Interestingly, Allu Arjun has expressed his admiration for Bollywood in earlier interviews. He emphasised that actors from various Indian film industries are like “brothers” with mutual respect for each other’s work. He acknowledged Bollywood’s influence on South cinema and said that despite Bollywood’s recent challenges, it has produced great cinema for over six decades.
