It is no news that the south Indian film industry is more successful than Bollywood. Way too many south films outperform those by Bollywood and capture the box office. A lot of south films are so good that they are remade by Bollywood, examples being ‘Drishyam’, ‘Saathiya’ and ‘Yuva’.
Producer Boney Kapoor made a rather interesting comparison between Bollywood and south films. He called Bollywood fast food whereas he addressed south films as an Indian thali – having the best of everything that works well for the audience.
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The Indian Express quoted him saying:
“Today, some of the Mumbai filmmakers serve McDonald’s, KFC, pizza where you get only what you order, whereas, the South offers you thali with roti, dal-chawal, sabzi, chicken. It is a mix of everything. That is what the audience wants, a bit of everything, and everything should gel together. The world that the South Indian makers create is something accepted and liked by most.”
He reasons that because south films are a mix of everything, they are able to cater to the audience in the north as well. Adding that south films are more “Indianised”, the producer said:
“Southern films are a mix of everything. Most Indians are used to thali (meals), which offers a variety of dishes. (Similarly) south cinemas cater to all genres, segments and all age groups. They are more Indianised in their content than Bollywood movies. That’s why they can connect with the audience in the Hindi heartland.”
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Addressing Tamil and Telugu films, Boney Kapoor added that they have dance, romance, comedy, and action. Hence, they are more palatable to the larger audience.
“I realized that the content of south cinema is palatable to the entire Indian audience. It doesn’t just cater to the select niche audience. They have action, family emotion and all Indian sentiments; they are the main ingredients of south Indian movies, especially Tamil and Telugu. The packaging is also good. They have dance, romance, comedy, action and everything. The Indian audience basically would always prefer something which is more Indian.”
Finally, Kapoor shared an example from the film ‘Wanted’ starring Salman Khan. Salman was seen bashing up several men at once, without breaking into a sweat. When the producer asked Prabhu Deva about it, they told him that their heroes don’t get hurt and hence, they are heroes.
“During one particular sequence in Wanted, where Salman is bashing 16 people, I went up to Prabhu Deva and action director Vijayan and asked them how he is fighting so many people and he has no sweat on his face, he doesn’t get hurt. They tell me that our heroes don’t get hurt, our heroes don’t sweat, and therefore they are heroes. The South industry believes in heroes, and also content wise they have been richer. In Mumbai, we have only two to three producers who are successful but they have not even made a fraction of money what South producers have made.”
Do you agree with what Boney Kapoor has to say? Tell us!