Bollywood lost its essence? Should Bollywood learn more about storytelling from south pictures?
“Movies from the south are gold at the box office”. “ Bollywood has forgotten how to make movies .” These two statements have been tossed out so frequently during the last six months, that even hardened skeptics have suspended disbelief. Just what is going on? Most industry experts say only two Bollywood films made their top 2021 list: Rohit Shetty’s cop caper Sooryavanshi and Kabir Khan’s sports saga 83; the rest were all from the south, and topping the list was Pushpa: The Rise, the story of an underdog who smites the ungodly hip and thigh, and emerges victorious. Right now, almost halfway through 2022, the biggest films are SS Rajamouli’s rousing period-adventure-epic RRR and Prashanth Neel’s unstoppable K.G.F: Chapter 2 (KGF2), in which Yash towers over the vast Kolar Gold Fields and a phalanx of foes, which includes an Indian prime minister, no less. There are no exact figures, but KGF2 is easily the second-biggest hit in Indian cinema behind Raj...