South Cinema vs Bollywood: What Has South Film Industry Got That Bollywood Is Lacking? -

It’s easy to blame the boycott trend for the failure of Bollywood. While the boycott trend remains a problem, the truth for Bollywood’s failure is far from that. The recent phenomenal success of the Tollywood film RRR globally has proved that the audience wants content. The story is a deciding factor for the success of any film, and Bollywood is too reluctant to accept that.

Films like Laal Singh Chadda, Raksha Bandhan, Dhaakad, Jayeshbhai Jordaar, Samrat Prithviraj, and many more were massive flops at the box office. And while the filmmakers will have you believe that the crackdown on Bollywood is the reason, the truth lies in their incompetencies.

On the other hand, South cinema focuses on telling stories to its audiences. Needless to point out, with the sensational success of films like Bahubali, RRR and KGF, the list of hit south movies is long. Another factor for south cinema’s success is the value for their money. The budgets are hardly over the top. The funds and the effort go into the film’s production.

Some hit Bollywood films of 2022 stood apart from the crowd, like The Kashmir Files and Bramhastra. They delivered the audience something to long for and talk about. Be it The Kashmir Files’ portrayal of a tragic historical event or Bramhastra’s stunning VFX (Dialogues aside), the audience saw the films for their content.

Speaking on the same issue, Anupam Kher talked in an interview that Bollywood has started to believe in selling the stars to the audience. At the same time, the south cinema industry prioritises the audience’s needs for relevant stories.

Ultimately, Bollywood needs to grow out of the mindset that they’re doing the audience a favour by presenting films with different combinations of stars with mediocre stories. They must keep checking the audience’s pulse for their requirements to stay relevant.