Pushpa fame, father of popular actor Allu Arjun and South Indian film producer Allu Aravind is known for his outspokenness. Some time ago, in a talk show in Mumbai, he once again said important things about South vs Bollywood films. During the talk show, when he was asked why today South’s films are becoming more successful and Bollywood films are flopping in comparison to them? So he said very simply that Bollywood people are making films only for some people of Mumbai, whereas films are made for our audience. In his conversation, he had also seriously pointed towards the competition between South versus Bollywood films.
Producer director Allu Arvind gave the example of popular Hindi film actress Deepika Padkone starrer film Gahraiyaan to prove his point. He said that the theme in the film Ghatiyan is the issue of resentment regarding marriage, illicit relations and normalizing it. But its story did not become such that it could connect the middle class people of our country.
Allu Arvind’s sarcasm on Karan Johar’s films
In his conversation, Allu Arjun’s father Allu Arvind also targeted the films directed or produced by Karan Johar. He said that if we take a look, the stories of all his films are of upper class families. Both hero and heroine are often from very rich families. In Karan Johar’s films, the hero goes to college in a Ferrari car. After all, how can the common audience connect themselves with characters like them? People who work as daily wage laborers for their livelihood and travel by train every day, how would they like a hero with a Ferrari car?
During this time, he said that we should look at the hero and story of any South Indian film which was making waves recently. In those films, the hero is a person who represents the common man. Be it KGF or Kantara, their heroes come from normal families. Even in a film like Kalki, the hero Prabhas is a poor man who dreams of riches.
Less films of common people are made in Bollywood.
He told that just look at the hero of the film Pushpa, the hero here represents the anger of the lower middle class. This is the reason why the general audience in India easily connects with the hero and his story of South Indian films. In this sequence, he also took the names of Manjumel Boys, Avesham and Tamil film Maharaja. Whenever Bollywood has made a film on a common story, it has been successful. For example, Raanjhanaa, Gangs of Wasseypur, Jawaan, Stree 2 and 12th Fail etc. His stories are being appreciated across the country.
Big change in society after Covid 19
Overall, there has been a big change in the Indian film industry after Covid-19. There has been a lot of change in terms of content, marketing and the mood of the audience. During the Corona period, Indian audiences got a chance to come face to face with the best films and web series from India and abroad. There was little engagement of the general audience with these content-oriented films. The audience is now more aware of the nuances than ever before and has started demanding quality films. The audience is bored with stories consisting of fight, action, 5 songs and one item song. Allu Aravind says that despite knowing the changing preferences of the audience, Bollywood remains on the old pattern.
