Manoj Bajpayee: South blockbusters have sent a shiver down the spine of Mumbai film industry

Discussing the recent spate of pan-India blockbusters from the south film industry, Manoj Bajpayee tells us, "Itni blockbuster ho rahi hai (from the south)... forget about Manoj Bajpayee and the likes of me for a minute, it has sent a shiver down the spine of all the mainstream filmmakers from the Mumbai film industry. They really don’t know where to look."

Explaining what sets south cinema apart, Manoj adds, "They are unapologetic, they are passionate, and every shot they take as if they are taking the best shot in the world. And so much thought and passion goes into it. Not even once do they talk about the audience in a demeaning way. They don’t say that the audience will understand. ‘Yeh massy hai, yeh chal jayega’ – they never talk in this language. They shoot a film as they have envisioned it, they don’t dumb it down for the audience because they hold their audience in the highest regard and their passion is supreme. If you see Pushpa or RRR or KGF, the making of it – it is immaculate. Each and every frame is actually shot in a manner as if it were a life and death situation. This is what we lack. We started thinking about mainstream films only in terms of money and box office. Hum criticise nahi kar sakte na apne aap ko. So hum unko ‘different’ keh kar alag kar denge. But it’s a lesson. This is a lesson for Mumbai industry mainstream filmmakers on how to make mainstream cinema."

The Family Man actor says that while the multiplex crowd is waking up to the box-office power of stars from the south now, they have been entertaining the audience in the B and C cities for a while now, thanks to dubbed versions of their films. "Do you know that Ram Charan and Junior NTR and Allu Arjun and Pawan Kalyan were already stars in the B, C cities before their recent films became big hits? Their older films were already being watched in a dubbed version in all the interior places. Those were the films which were actually satisfying the B, C cities of this country," says Manoj.

Talking about where Bollywood went wrong, Manoj says, "While films from the south were satisfying the B, C cities of this country, we were satisfied with the multiplexes and popcorn films thinking that we are making the best mainstream cinema which is reaching everyone. No, it was not reaching everyone. That section – the audience of the smaller cities, the single screens – was really not entertained. They (mainstream Bollywood) stopped addressing those viewers. When multiplexes become very expensive and far away from their (audiences’) reach, then who is their star? Who is entertaining them all this while? For you, as a person who buys a ticket in a multiplex in Delhi, when you see RRR, Junior NTR is someone you have seen for the first time – but not for the viewers in the B,C cities. They have already seen him"

Emphasising on the popularity stars from the south enjoy, Manoj adds, "Someone told me before RRR’s release – 'Bhaiyya, aap Junior NTR aur Ram Charan ko le kar chale jaiye Haryana ke kisi gaon mein, woh aaj bhi mob ho jayenge. Aap ka (Bollywood) superstar wahan mob nahi hoga kyunki woh audience unki filmein nahi dekhte hain. Woh inki filmein dekhte hai, dubbed version.' Upper middle class ko jab hero mila, aur multiplex bhi usi waqt aaye, uske baad humne ye space miss kar diya. Lekin multiplex mein jana sabke bas ki baat rahi nahi. Ab Zanjeer, Naseeb, Khalnayak kahan banti hai? Ya Vishwanath? Kalicharan? Hamari upper middle class ka hero NRI ban gaya tha. Upper middle class ka aspiration woh raha. The successful huge megastars that we have created – they were not megastars of B, C cities."