Ram Gopal Varma clarifies dig at Shahid Kapoor’s Jersey, but still believes it’s the ‘death of remakes’

Filmmaker Ram Gopal Varma elaborated on his recent Twitter comments about the Shahid Kapoor-starrer Jersey, and the state of Hindi remakes of South Indian films. Jersey, based on a Telugu film starring Nani, has flopped at the box office. RGV said that the film’s failure is the final nail in the coffin for a trend that has taken over Bollywood.
He said in an interview with The Times of India that going forward, producers from the South will avoid selling the Hindi rights to their films, and will prefer dubbing the original for North Indian markets. Films such as RRR, Pushpa: The Rise and KGF: Chapter 2 have proven that there is an appetite for dubbed content among Hindi-speaking masses.

RGV in his original Twitter thread used the hashtah ‘death of remakes’, and said in the interview that Bollywood filmmakers are ‘confused and in denial’. And because they don’t understand the audience like directors SS Rajamouli and Prashanth Neel, they will always have to rely on remake rights.

The DISASTROUS fate of JERSEY film in Hindi signals the DEATH of REMAKES for the simple reason it has been proved multiple times that dubbed films like #Pushpa #RRR #KGF2 are doing far better than originals ,if the content is good #DeathOfRemakes
— Ram Gopal Varma (@RGVzoomin) April 26, 2022
 
It should be pointed out that the Jersey remake was directed Gowtam Tinnanuri, who also directed the 2019 original. In fact, RGV has often remade his own films in Hindi, either as a producer or director. Jersey is struggling to stay afloat at the box office, with just over Rs 20 crore in the bank worldwide after five days of release. Shahid’s previous film, Kabir Singh, was also a remake of a South hit, and went on to make nearly Rs 400 crore worldwide.
In recent weeks, several actors have said that Bollywood is struggling to keep up with the South Indian film industries because of a lack of authenticity, and because the Hindi film industry has danced itself from hero-driven star vehicles that were so popular in the 80s and 90s. RGV said that this will inspire a ‘new breed of filmmakers’ to cater to the masses.