Lately, there have been huge discussions on social media comparing South Indian and Bollywood movies. There is a debate even among filmmakers about whether South Indian films or Bollywood films are better. Now, writer Soumya Rajendran has come up with a response to this issue.
Soumya says that Soth Indian film stars, unlike in Bollywood, are more like ordinary human beings.
“I was watching Anurag Kashyap's interview with Baradwaj Rangan. He talks about how Bollywood has stopped making films that connect with the audience because nothing looks real, including the actors. South cinema - particularly Tamil and Telugu - produces way more star vehicles than Bollywood. That is, a Hrithik Roshan or Ranbir Kapoor movie cannot just be the stars beating up gangsters and mouthing punch dialogues to zany background music. But in the south, most stars still look like ordinary people who could be from anywhere. They could be doing superhuman things on screen but they look human. They look like us,” wrote Soumya.
Soumya added that there is a variety of actors in South Industry compared to Bollywood. “There is a Vijay Sethupathi who displays his pot belly. There is a Fahadh who is bald. There is an Ajith whose hair is fully white. There is a Dhanush who can look street or CEO, depending on the character. There is an Allu Arjun who can make you smile with his swag like your class joker.
The women don't always look like they could be from anywhere. They have to be fair. But even then, there is a Sai Pallavi who looks like she's lived all her life in that small, cramped house in 'Gargi'. There is a Nimisha Sajayan who wears the exhaustion of the 'The Great Indian Kitchen' on her face,” wrote Soumya on Facebook.
She added that the problem is not with the actors but with the industry. “It's not that Bollywood stars can't act. That is, of course, not true. But do they look the part? When I watched Bhansali's 'Gangubai Kathiawadi', I couldn't buy Alia Bhatt in the role at all. It's not that she didn't act well - but can a woman who undergoes such abuse every day of her life looks like a fresh lily all the time?” Soumya added.
