Anurag Kashyap says ‘not only Bollywood but South films are also not working’; adds that people are not worried about the real issues in the country
Anurag Kashyap who co-directed the first Netflix original created in India, Sacred Games is promoting his upcoming film Dobaaraa. In a recent chat, filmmaker Anurag Kashyap spoke about how consumers don't have enough money and want to be certain about a movie before paying for movies. The filmmaker reacted to a query regarding the failure of popular Bollywood films to perform well at the box office. This comes after two of the most anticipated movies, starring the greatest Hindi movie stars, were released last week and had a poor opening weekend. Raksha Bandhan, starring Akshay Kumar, made 28 crores in four days whereas Aamir Khan's Laal Singh Chaddha made 46 crores in five. On August 11, both movies debuted to mixed reviews.
Anurag said, "Nobody is lacking. How do you know Southern movies work? One film worked in Kannada and Tamil and two each in Hindi and Telugu. You wouldn't name Telugu, same in Tamil and Kannada films that released over the past few weeks. That is because films are not working there either. The main problem is that people do not have the money. You are paying GST on paneer. You are paying GST on your food. The calls for boycott, boycott Bollywood, boycott this and that ..all those trend so you may get distracted (from the real issue). And, with their money, people wish to spend on a film when they are completely sure the film will be liked by all. Or, if people have been waiting for the film for years. RRR for example, people have been waiting for SS Rajamouli's film ever since Baahubali. KGF 2 was also a much-awaited film, ever since the success of KGF."
He further added, "Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2 was also a sequel and people were waiting. Now, in Sanjay Leela Bhansali's film Gangubai Kathiawadi, people stepped out and watched it because of the good word of mouth. The film picked over time. People do not have too much money in their pockets. We must talk about the dangerous economic slump in our country, but we do not want to talk about it and are instead stuck with Bollywood or cricket. "
Anurag claimed that his upcoming science fiction film, Dobaaraa, is a remake of the time-travel and parallel universes movie Mirage from Spain. Taapsee Pannu and Pavail Gulati play the two main characters in the movie. The movie's scheduled release date is August 19, 2022.
