Nawazuddin Siddiqui unimpressed RRR and KGF 2’s success: ‘If a Bollywood film becomes a big hit…’
In the last couple of years, several films from south Indian languages have emerged as huge box office successes across the country, a position that earlier mostly Bollywood movies enjoyed. Particularly after the record-smashing hit that was Baahubali duology, producers working in Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, and Kannada have increasingly considered Hindi-speaking section of India potentially lucrative and have dubbed their films in their language.
Nawazuddin Siddiqui, the acclaimed actor who rose to fame with small-budgeted indie movies, has now entered the commercial space as well. Currently seen in Heropanti 2 alongside Tiger Shroff, he was asked NDTV as to whether there is any insecurity in Bollywood after the domination of films like RRR and KGF: Chapter 2.
He responded, “When a film does well everyone joins in and praises it more than it probably deserves. Similarly if a film isn’t a hit, people criticise it more than it deserves.”
He added that a Hindi film becoming equivalent hit will transform the debate once again. “This is like fashion, now if a Bollywood film becomes a big hit then all these talks will change. I think this is just a trend.”
RRR and KGF 2’s success has ignited the debate and even reignited old debates like the one about Hindi’s status. Recently, Bollywood’s Ajay Devgn and Kannada star Kiccha Sudeep engaged in a war of words on Twitter over Sudeep’s statement that Hindi is not a national language.
Meanwhile, Siddiqui, known for an eclectic career with movies like Gangs of Wasseypur, Manto, and Bajrangi Bhaijaan, also rued the fact that the Indian film buff has emerged with a poorer taste after Covid-19 pandemic — he had thought it would be the opposite due to more exposure to international cinema.
