Bollywood vs South Cinema: The never ending debate of Bollywood vs regional cinema is once again back in the news over the issue of content quality and its connection with reality. Incidentally, this time, it is none other than a B-town director who has dissed Bollywood and heaped praises on South Cinema for its “authenticity”.
On Sunday, Bollywood filmmaker Neeraj Ghaywan candidly spoke on the issues that he considers are plaguing the Hindi film industry. Speaking at an event in Mumbai, the Masaan director lauded South regional industries for its ‘authenticity’. However, to highlight the contrast, he added that “Bollywood does not feel real”.
Neeraj Ghaywan rekindles Bollywood vs South Cinema
On Sunday, the Masaan director contrasted the two industries during his address at the 7th edition of the Indian Screenwriters Conference (ISC) which was hosted by the Screenwriters Association of India (SWA). The session was titled ‘Alternative Reality’ and it was hosted by Mrs and Aarya writer Anu Singh Choudhary. The other participants on the panel discussion included filmmakers Shoojit Sircar, Megha Ramaswamy and Kanu Behl.
During the event, he was asked why South films were doing better at the box office than Hindi films of late.
To which, Ghaywan replied, “I feel the reason why the Southern industries are doing so well is because their lived reality is so authentic, and their characters are rooted and real. Here (in Bollywood), the characters are sanitised for a certain audience. It has to go via Bandra. It doesn’t feel real. In the process of making a film palatable to a certain audience, you might lose what is real.”
He also lamented the lack of ‘independent funding’ for films, which exists in Europe but not in India.
He asserted, “The challenge is to make what you want with the studios while keeping your integrity intact. Recovery has to come from music or casting a particular actor. You have to battle your way through to achieve your vision.”
Who is Neeraj Ghaywan?
Before assisting Anurag Kashyap on Gangs of Wasseypur and Ugly, Ghaywan had worked as an engineer and film critic. He made his directorial debut in 2014 with the movie Masaan. The film saw Vicky Kaushal and Richa Chadha in key roles. Afterwards, he directed Sacred Games season 2, Geeli Puchi segment of the anthology film Ajeeb Dastaans, and two episodes of Made in Heaven.
Bollywood vs Regional cinema
For quite a long time now, Bollywood has been facing mounting criticism for pushing anti-Hindu agenda, wokeism, prioritising Nepo kids’ career-building over audience centric thought process, lack of creativity, la la-land cinematography and a host of other issues. On the other hand, regional entertainment industries, particularly a few in the Southern part of India, have been receiving praises for its ‘authentic’ portrayal of characters and storyline, freshness as well as richness in content and Sanatan rooted portrayal of the characters.
However, in our last video, TFI categorically highlighted that everything is not hunky dory for Southern regional entertainment industries as well.
While Bollywood continues to receive brick bat as it still remains in the grip of radical leftist, Islamist appeasers, the South Cinema particularly the Kollywood has been pushing division agenda in the form of heightened caste tensions, pushing caste atrocity literature etc and the result has not been kinder to them either.
Incidentally, 2024 was not a happy year for the Tamil film industry aka Kollywood. While some brilliantly made films like Maharaja garnered applause from all corners of the country, the industry as a whole had a nightmarish time last year. For Tamil cinema, 2024 was one of its most challenging years. Producers and distributors incurred heavy losses to the tune of ₹1000 crore.
Reports indicate that nearly ₹3000 crore was invested in filmmaking, but only 18 out of 241 films gained success at the Box office. This means that the industry faced a significant downturn and the audience gave a big thumbs down to the stories they wanted to sail and the divisive narrative they wanted to push through.
