Sudeep, Salman Khan on South vs Bollywood debate: ‘It’s a beautiful thing to exchange ideas, collaborate’

Salman Khan and Kiccha Sudeep spoke about the current South vs Bollywood debate at Vikrant Rona's promotional event.

Salman Khan and Sudeep at the pre-release event of Vikrant Rona. (Photo: Varinder Chawla)

Bollywood superstar Salman Khan on Monday graced the promotional event of Vikrant Rona in Mumbai. Salman is presenting the Kiccha Sudeep-starrer in the Hindi belt. At the event, the two superstars shared their two cents on the current South vs North films debate. While Sudeep appealed to all to not generalise a few hits, Salman said that everyone is trying their best, and there’s no sure shot formula that’s working.

Referring to the recent hits KGF 2, RRR and Pushpa, the emcee asked Kiccha Sudeep about the trend of south films doing well at the Hindi box office. He also asked whether the actor feels his film Vikrant Rona too would manage to break records. “I hope it is that way,” he shared with a smile.

Defending Bollywood, Sudeep then went on to say, “I don’t want to say much. I also don’t want to generalise all that. There are several films that are made in the south, and not every movie does well. We cannot call it domination. There are good times for everything. If the Hindi film industry wasn’t doing great films, if it didn’t have great people, how would you sustain the industry for so many years? It’s like Virat Kohli being out of form for a while. Are you going to take away his records? It doesn’t work that way. At the end of the day, there are lots of films being made, some work, some don’t.”

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Also Read | Vikrant Rona actor Sudeep: Salman Khan and I have a beautiful bond

Salman Khan also batted for the Hindi film industry. He said, “We all try to make the best film. We want it to reach everyone. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. There’s no formula to it.”

Kiccha Sudeep further remarked how actors from both the industries have been collaborating for a long time. He also said there are no insecurities between them.

“We collaborate on Hindi films. Sir (Salman) is now supporting our film. Why would she (Jacqueline Fernandez) come and do our film (Vikrant Rona)? Why would we call her? We can be ‘south south’. None of us are working that way. Right now sir (Salman) is doing a prime role in Hyderabad. He’s going (for shoot) and coming back. Why would he do that? All of us are secure. It’s a beautiful thing to exchange ideas, collaborate. I think it’s a beautiful atmosphere that we have, which you may not see,” added The Villian actor.

Salman Khan said that he too has worked with talent from south India. He said, “This has always been there. For some reason, it had stopped. I have worked with a lot of talent from the South. I have worked with him (Sudeep), Prakash Raj, Prabhudheva, a lot of South directors and DOPs. I am working with Venky now (Venkatesh), who started with Anari. There was even Kamal Haasan. All the south people have worked here and given big hits.”

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Kiccha Sudeep’s Vikrant Rona will release in theatres on July 28.

Sana Farzeen

Sana Farzeen is an assistant editor at Indian Express Online and covers Entertainment across platforms. Apart from writing articles, features and opinions, she enjoys interviewing celebrities on video. An alumna of Calcutta University, Sana has previously worked with the Times Group and Tellychakkar. You can contact her at sana.farzeen@indianexpress.com. ... Read More

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