South films work here but their audience don’t watch our movies, says Salman Khan 

Opening up on film budgets and lacklustre run of Bollywood releases, the actor shares reasons and possible solutions. Salman also announces his next big action movie with Sanjay Dutt, and says film with Atlee is delayed

Mumbai: Bollywood Superstar Salman Khan says while films of stars like Rajinikanth, Chiranjeevi, Suriya, and Ram Charan perform well in the Hindi belt, the audiences in the south region don’t watch Bollywood movies and its stars in theatres.

The actor said he has a fan-following in south where the fans call him by his nickname of ‘Bhai’ on the streets but the admiration does not translate into theatrical footfalls for Hindi movies.

“When my film is released there, it will not get the numbers because their fan-following is very strong. I’ll be on the street, and they will say, ‘Bhai, Bhai’, but they will not go to the theatres. We’ve accepted them (south stars) here, and their films do well because we go and see them, like those of Rajinikanth garu or Chiranjeevi garu or Suriya or Ram Charan. But their fans do not go and see our films,” Khan said during a media interaction.

The 59-year-old actor, who, in the past, has worked with south directors like Prabhu Deva and has collaborated with AR Murugadoss on his upcoming Eid release ‘Sikandar’, will next work with Atlee, who made his Hindi cinema debut with Shah Rukh Khan’s ‘Jawan’.

The film, however, is delayed due to budget issues. “He has written a very big-budget action film… I’m doing another big action film after ‘Sikandar’ with my elder brother in the industry, Sanju, Sanjay Dutt. That’s rustic action,” Khan said.

Asked whether pan-Indian films, with stars from both sides, were the way forward, Khan said it would be an expensive endeavour and requires “the right script”. “The thing is money… They also charge and we also charge, it is a big responsibility. For instance, in a film like ‘Ramayana’, they can cast everyone from here and there (south). I’ve worked with directors, actors and technicians from the south in many films… If we had 20,000 to 30,000 theatres, we would have killed Hollywood,” Khan said.

The superstar blamed the lacklustre run of many recent Bollywood releases on the intention of the makers. “My father (noted scriptwriter Salim Khan) says we are making films for the wrong reasons. Like if we’ve the dates of an actor, or the heroine is about to get married or is expecting, or we’ve a distributor or money… ‘So, ‘let’s make a film’. But films should be made only when we’ve the best script ever.

“People who were making serious films have shifted to action or comedy because this is what is working right now… We are going wrong on the budget. Once our budgets are controlled, everything is going to be okay,” he said.

According to the actor, writers and filmmakers, who have studied abroad, often lack the emotional depth in their stories. “We need emotion, action and romance. We need a whole package because for two-and-a-half hours we need all these things. They are writing for themselves, and the directors and producers are competing amongst each other, thinking, ‘I’ll show you how to make a film’. You’ve got to make the film for the audience.”

Khan said the shrinking attention span of the viewers is another challenge that filmmakers have to fight today. “Today, if there’s an informative dialogue in the film, people get busy on their phones; the attention span has become very little. It’s important to make films for an audience and think that everyone will enjoy it. Not under the assumption that they will not understand it. You can’t spoon-feed them because they’ve seen a lot of content on Netflix. However, movies — good or bad — are still the most watched things as far as entertainment is concerned,” he said.

According to Khan, films like ‘Chhaava’, ‘Jawan’ and ‘Animal’ did big numbers at the box-office because of word-of-mouth publicity.

Asked about the rising ticket price in theatres, Khan admitted that it is an issue but said reducing them is not feasible. “The ticket prices should not be that high… The ticket prices should not be huge, but there’s no benefit in reducing the prices. Those who have money go and watch the film within the first three days of the film’s release. However, you can’t blame them (theatre owners), they’ve rent, electricity, and salaries to pay. It’s a huge investment.”

He is hopeful that his movie, ‘Sikandar‘, directed by AR Murugadoss, will do well in theatres. Produced by Sajid Nadiadwala, ‘Sikandar’ is set to release on March 30, coinciding with Eid. The film also stars Rashmika Mandanna, Sathyaraj, Kajal Aggarwal and Sharman Joshi, among others.

“The film is about a king (like figure), who can be from any part of the country… The story is basically about a good man who will be a good man anywhere in the world,” said Khan who is paired opposite Rashmika Mandanna in the film.

Speaking about the age gap between actors and actresses, he said, “I want to work with Ananya (Panday), Janhvi (Kapoor), but people have made it difficult for me because then they talk about the age gap. However, I’ll continue to work with them.”