The actress believes that there is nothing like Tamil films or Telugu films or Hindi film, as all these are pan-Indian films.
After impressing the audience in ‘Gangubai Kathiawadi’ and ‘RRR’, Alia Bhatt will next be seen in Ayan Mukerji's ‘Brahmastra’ alongside husband Ranbir Kapoor. It is touted to be a pan-India film as it will release in Hindi, Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam and Kannada. However, despite several Hindi films releasing in regional languages and vice-versa, there has always been a North vs South debate as some regional films are faring better than Bollywood projects.
Giving her opinion on the debate, actor-producer Alia cited that it has been a ‘tough year’ for Indian cinema overall.
“We should be a little kind to Hindi films. Today, we are sitting here and saying, ‘Oh Bollywood, oh Hindi cinema. But are we counting the films that have done well this year? Even in the south industry, all their films have not worked. Some of the films have worked, and they are very good films. But similarly over here, starting with my film, Gangubai Kathiawadi, have worked and done very well,” Indian Express quoted the actress as saying.
Alia further said that good content will always be appreciated. “A good film will always do well,” adding that times are tough as the film industry is recovering from the losses incurred during the pandemic.
“The lens today is hard on cinema in general because we are coming post-pandemic. The theatres were shut for almost two years, so there was a sort of assessment, ‘What are the films that are going to work in the theatres?’, ‘What are the films which are working in general?’. Good content will always do well, but now we are re-assessing what are the films that we are going to put into a theatre, what are the films that will be released directly on an OTT platform, and what is the general consumer habit? So, we are just understanding that. But, it doesn’t mean that Hindi cinema is over. This ain’t happening,” Alia asserted.
She concluded by saying that it isn’t like nobody is doing anything about the current situation. “Nobody is just sitting, eating popcorn and saying, ‘Jo hona hai hone do’. Everybody cares. If you ask anyone, who is into the movie business, we are literally just talking about movies, that’s all we talk about,” she said.
Meanwhile, apart from ‘Brahmastra’, Alia is currently awaiting the release of her debut production, ‘Darlings’. Also starring Shefali Shah and Vijay Varma, the film will start streaming on Netflix from August 5.