After sparring with Boney Kapoor over South cinema’s influence over Bollywood, Naga Vamsi calls Karan Johar his inspiration: ‘Not a Telugu director’

Sharing how Karan Johar has inspired him to become a filmmaker, he said, “I adore Shah Rukh Khan, Ranbir Kapoor, and even Deepika Padukone. Karan Johar is my inspiration for coming to films, not any Telugu director. Ever since I watched Kuch Kuch Hota Hain, I knew I wanted to make a rich-looking film like that someday.”

Vamsi also explained that his original comments stemmed from the impressive success of South Indian films in recent years, which he is particularly proud of. He cited examples of SS Rajamouli’s RRR and Baahubali, Prashanth Neel’s KGF, Rishab Shetty’s Kantara, Sandeep Reddy Vanga’s Animal and Atlee’s Jawan. “Because south Indians made all these films, as a south Indian talking to someone from the north, I just pointed out how well we performed.”

He also confirmed that him and Boney were cordial after interview. “Boney Kapoor and I were fine after the interview. Now, Pushpa 2 generated records no Hindi film did to date, of course, I will be proud of it. It’s not arrogance,” he shared.

At the Galatta Plus roundtable, while speaking to Boney Kapoor, Vamsi had commented, “We, South Indians, have changed the way you (Bollywood) look at cinema. Because, you guys (Bollywood), were stuck in making films for Bandra and Juhu. You witnessed a change with Baahubali, RRR, Animal and Jawan,” but Boney disagreed.” Boney Kapoor, however, had dismissed his remarks and refused to accept them.