In just 5 days, the box-office collections of ‘Baahubali: The Conclusion’ has crossed more than Rs 500 crore globally. The much-anticipated movie kept up to its expectations and blew everyone’s minds. This Telugu movie made huge impacts in all the languages it was dubbed in (Tamil, Hindi, and Malayalam). In spite of Bahubali 2’s great achievements, certain TV anchors have tried to bring down the success of the movie.
The fact that a Telugu filmmaker could pull off a feat of creating a Rs 450 crore worth blockbuster which according to some, should have ideally been done by Bollywood is causing annoyance amongst a certain few. It was extremely exasperating to hear one channel anchor state that ‘Baahubali 2’ is a Tamil film dubbed into Telugu and Hindi. The sheer ignorance put on display here by the Indian cinema in disregarding the latent talents of the south is sad.
In taking into account the history of Indian cinema, it can be seen that Chennai, or Madras in those days, was the heart of South Indian cinema. Since the early times, Chennai has been a home to several studios like AVM, Vijayvahini, and Gemini and made sure to use the latest technologies from 70mm to Dolby. While Madras was the National Film City which also made Tamil films, Mumbai has only been a Hindi center with no other language diversities, except Marathi.
Bollywood is an industry which is solely driven by its stars. More than the actual content, the actors play the major role in deciding a movie’s worth. However, South Indian cinema not only has its share of great stars, but also gives wonderful story lines and screenplays. South India is famous for its cutting edge technologies used in movies. Mayabazar released in 1957, is a fine example for a pioneering movie making use of brilliant technology along with a fine storyline. It is no wonder that SS Rajamouli, director of Bahubali had tweeted in 2013 saying, “About 20 of us watched Maybazar in Blu-ray. Kids of age 7-17 enjoyed it as much as we enjoyed it in our childhood.”
Since a very long time, Bollywood is always known to use the stories of the south and remake it into its own version. It is true that there used to be a time when Hindi movies were remade by the South Film Industry into movies of their own language and popularized by starring its respective superstars. However Bollywood lost its touch and started relying on the southern films for ideas. Many movies of Rajesh Khanna and Anil Kapoor were in fact mostly remakes of successful south films. Most of Director Priyadarshan’s Hindi movies were remakes of his previous south films. When many Hindi films like, Singham, Force, Wanted, Ek Dheewana Tha and Rehnaa Hai Terre Dil Mein are remakes of South Indian cinema, it is not fair of Bollywood to belittle the south.
It is not fair to glorify South Indian cinema, for it is not always lights and shine. It too has its own futile moments, from which it can never escape. One need not hail the South Indian Industry, but one can atleast accept the movies made here are unique and worthwhile. The apathetic nature shown towards the south by those in the north is shameful. Why can’t the Oscar winner, AR Rahman be called “The Mozart of India” instead of “The Mozart of Madras?” Why should the entire Indian Film Industry be known as Bollywood globally, when there are different, beautiful linguistic facets to it? With the soaring success of Bahubali 2, the talents of South India will begin to fly with blazing colours, and will dare to release their movies on ordinary days and not wait for special holidays.