Ranveer Singh weighs in on North vs South debate, says he goes mad every time he lens to ‘Oo Antava’: ‘RRR blew my brains’
Ranveer Singh in an interview spoke about the ongoing language debate, and the Bollywood versus South Indian films debate, which have all conflated into one large discussion about the country. He said that it is a good thing that films from the South are doing well across the country, and cited the example of cross-border hits such as Parasite and Narcos.
He told India Today that these debates are more to do with the commercial side of things, and predicted that soon, there will be a Hindi film that’ll do just as well. He said that Aamir Khan’s films do supremely well in China, which isn’t something one would expect. At the end of the day, Ranveer said, ‘it’s really about the story’. Cinema and sport has the ‘power to transcend boundaries’, he said, adding that he goes ‘mad’ any time he lens to the song “Oo Antava”, from Pushpa: The Rise.
He said, “I feel like a story should be potent enough that it transcends these boundaries of language. If you look at Parasite, it won all these Oscars at the highest level. And it was a subtitled film. It was made a Korean director, and at the time it was made, it was considered to be the best film. Content just travels now, there are no boundaries. Though I haven’t been a follower of the show, I understand Narcos is extremely popular. Money He as well. In the Korean language, in the Spanish language, people all over the world are consuming content.”
Ranveer added, “When you have a potent story, rendered in this spectacular way, it will transcend boundaries, and I think that’s a wonderful thing. I have seen Pushpa, I loved it. I have seen KGF part 1, I haven’t seen part 2 yet, I’m dying to see it. I loved KGF part 1, I’m a big fan of the work these guys are doing… Allu Arjun, Rocking Star Yash. I had the privilege of seeing RRR in the theatre, it blew my brains. These are amazing movies, and I’m so happy they’re doing so well, and have found audiences all over the world. I find the technical aspects of those films very solid, very impressive.”
The actor said that diversity is what makes India so beautiful, and that non-Hindi films should not be called ‘regional’ films in the first place. The debate was reignited when actor Ajay Devgn asked Kiccha Sudeep why he chooses to dub his films in Hindi if, as per Sudeep himself, it is no longer the ‘national language’.
