Prashanth Neel on violence in Salaar: ‘Filmmakers downplay violence, look what is happening in Ukraine, Gaza…’

Meanwhile, director Prashanth Neel recently addressed the topic during a conversation with Galatta Plus and elaborated on the violence in Salaar, highlighting that filmmakers are downplaying such sequences in their films.

Drawing a parallel between a scene in KGF 2, where the lead character Rocky (Yash) storms into the Parliament and kills a minister, and a recent real-world incident involving a breach of Parliament security, the interviewer asked Neel if he believes people could be influenced by the negative depictions in movies.

Maintaining that he was not aware of the Parliament security breach incident, Neel said, “If people were influenced by cinema, I think you would have seen a billion heroes more than anything else. I don’t think the negative aspects [in cinema] matter so much.”

“Look at what is happening around the world today. It’s all real. We feel that cinema is an exaggeration… But if you see what is happening in Ukraine and the Gaza Strip, you know that we are probably underplaying it in our movies. The reality is out there. We are not using violence to say that it is good. We always show a hero using violence to bring down bad people. There is a moral to it. Try and be a hero. You don’t have to pick up a gun to be a hero. We don’t try to inspire and that is not my job. I’m not here to preach. If your parents haven’t done it for you, then neither can I. I am not going to influence you,” he maintained.

“If you tell me that I am influencing the youngsters with my content, then you should see what is happening on the cricket pitches — people swear there. Do you think that is fine? Well, nobody’s pointing a finger at them.”

“Cinema doesn’t inspire… I am not inspired by cinema for me to be in a certain way. The maximum I would do is change my hairstyle (watching a movie). Beyond that, I am not going to do anything,” he added.