1. Mahesh Babu

There are a lot of conversations about the South film industry and the type of stories they are producing. We already know what Bollywood celebs have said about the South Indian Film Industry. Today, we decided to look at the views of the South Indian celebs about working in Bollywood.

Mahesh Babu recently talked about how Bollywood cannot afford him. He stated he is comfortable working in Telugu films and is delighted to see Telugu cinema-going places. 

I did get a lot of offers in Hindi, but I don’t think they can afford me. I don’t want to waste my time working in an industry which can’t afford me. The stardom and the respect I get here (in South) is huge, so I never really thought of leaving my industry and going to some other industry. I have always thought of doing films and becoming bigger. My dream is coming true now and I can’t be happier.

2. Priyamani

Priyamani impressed us with her performance in the web series The Family Man. She opened up about the portrayal of South Indians in Bollywood films and said: 

There was a time when earlier we had people like Sridevi, Rekha, Hema Malini, & Vyjayanthimala, who ruled Bollywood. And then there was a dearth you know. We have only Hindi-speaking actors in Bollywood and they used to sort of portray South Indians- could be somebody from Chennai or Kerala – they used to portray them as people who used to not speak Hindi in the normal way – ‘Aiyo, kaisa ji, kya bolta ji’. After a point they stopped that and started getting South technicians to Bollywood. And, we saw a surge of a lot of South Indian technicians coming to Bollywood and making their mark successfully. And right now, I’m very happy that finally South talent is also getting recognised here in Bollywood and South stars are also getting their due.

3. Shruti Hassan

Shruti Hassan opened up about the whole insider-outsider discussion in Bollywood and said:

I honestly have many times felt like an outsider, especially in Bollywood, there is a whole North-South thing that constantly happens. For example, if I’m doing three Telugu films and three Tamil films, they’ll say, ‘Oh, but you’re not focusing on Hindi,’ as if that is the only industry in the country. And it isn’t. So I have always felt like an outsider. 

4. Yash

KGF actor Yash replied to Salman’s question on why south films are working in Bollywood and said: 

It’s not like that. Our films also never used to get this kind of reception, but what is happening from that part of the world, they have started playing dubbed versions here, people became familiar with the content of what we are creating. What worked today is people got familiar with our way of storytelling, our cinema, so it has not happened overnight. That has been there for a few years and eventually, they started understanding the content, the expression of the direction and everything.  

5. Dhanush

Dhanush, in an old interview, talked about how he is against the divide between south and north Indian films and said:   

I was always against (the divide between) south and north Indian films. It is an Indian film and that is how it should always be. We are heading towards that (change) at a very rapid pace. It is very healthy. It is helping all of us with our films, actors, and creative people globally.

6. Allu Arjun

Allu Arjun gathered fame with his extraordinary performance in Pushpa: The Rise. Talking about making his Bollywood debut, he said:

I have got an offer but nothing concrete or exciting. It does take courage, you have to risk it (to work in another industry). When we are the protagonist of the films that we do, anybody who comes to us will only come with the offer to play a protagonist, I would not be interested in anything (else). And it is very well understood. Even the other person will not come and it doesn’t make sense to ask such a big star to play a second role as it damages the film, they also know it. You have to work as a protagonist, as a main lead.

7. Ram Charan

Ram Charan talked about how he wants to see collaboration between actors and directors from different regions and said:

I want a director from Hindi cinema to make a pan-Indian film which caters to even the South. Salman  tweeted saying, I really love Ram, Rajamouli, and Tarak’s work but why are our films not being appreciated in the South. It is so candid of him to say that but I believe it is the writing; it is the director who has to transcend these boundaries of. Every writer should write movies like Vijayendra Prasad (RRR) or Rajamouli and say ‘believe in it. I want to make an Indian film where I want to work with talent from here (Bollywood), I want directors to explore the talent from South and make bigger films so that we have bigger budgets and we see bigger numbers at the end of the day.

Read more: From Salman To Nawazuddin, 8 Times Bollywood Celebs Spoke About The South Indian Film Industry.