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While 2024 proved to be a challenging year for most film industries across India, particularly Bollywood, Telugu and Malayalam cinema fared much better. Notably, three Telugu films — Pushpa 2: The Rule, Kalki 2898 AD and Devara: Part 1 — ranked in the top five highest-grossing Indian films of the year, while Bollywood’s sole entry was just Stree 2. Meanwhile, during a recent Galatta Plus roundtable, a group of producers from across the country engaged in an in-depth discussion about the state of Indian cinema. Now, a comment made by veteran Bollywood producer Boney Kapoor about Telugu star Jr NTR and Siddharth’s response to it have generated considerable attention.
During the conversation, referring to the universal acceptance of good cinema regardless of language, Boney used director K Balachander’s Ek Duuje Ke Liye (1981), starring Kamal Haasan and Rati Agnihotri, as an example. When Siddharth asked whether a “new face and director” would be similarly embraced in the north today, Boney responded, “Yes, why has Adi(tya) Chopra taken Tarak (Jr NTR) for his film (War 2)?” Hearing this, Naga Vamsi broke into laughter and clarified that Jr NTR was not a “new face,” as Siddharth added, “You are talking about the biggest superstar of this (south) industry working with the biggest superstar (Hrithik Roshan) of this (north) industry, working with the biggest producer in India,” Hindustan Times reported.
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Incidentally, Boney’s daughter Janhvi Kapoor recently shared the screen with Jr NTR in Devara, after the latter gained global fame with director SS Rajamouli’s RRR and its chart-topping “Naatu Naatu” song. Directed by Koratala Siva, Devara also starred Saif Ali Khan, Prakash Raj, Srikanth and Shine Tom Chacko in key roles, grossing Rs 421 crore worldwide, according to Sacnilk.
In his review of Devara, SCREEN’s Avinash Ramachandran wrote, “The Jr NTR film starts off really strong, only to suffer an extended downward slide that is finally salvaged by a bloody finale that is equal parts engaging and outlandish.”
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