"Bollywood is fast food, South Indian films are thalis": Boney Kapoor compares

Ace producer Boney Kapoor, who is basking on the success of Ajith Kumar's Valimai, has an interesting comparison between Bollywood and South Indian films. In an interview with a leading daily, the producer quipped, Bollywood is like your fast-food chains, you get what you order whereas as South Indian films are like thalis—there is roti, dal, chawal, sabzi and chicken. They have a perfect blend of everything.

Boney Kapoor also heaped praise on South Indian films for their rich content laced with a dose of reality and larger-than-life heroes. He also called it a complete package for the family audience.

The Valimai producer also recalled an interesting incident during the shooting of Salman Khan's Wanted. The crew was shooting for an action sequence, where Salman was bashing 16 people without shedding a single drop of sweat and blood.

Surprised with action scenes, the Kapoor clan went up to director Prabhu Deva and stunt choreographer Vijayan to enquire about it. But the answer was simple, "our heroes don't get hurt, they don't shed blood or sweat, and that's why they are heroes."

Elaborating on the financial aspect of both the industries, he also revealed how Bollywood films fail to fetch profits while a dubbed South Indian film is making more money in the Northern markets. "Mumbai, producers don't even make a fraction of what they are fetching," he added.

The ace filmmaker also revealed that he decided to collaborate with the south industry after seeing the response for dubbed Tamil and Telugu films in Mumbai. On average, the dubbed films rights of top south Indian stars are sold for Rs.15 to 20 crore.

However, Boney Kapoor recently had a tiff with RRR makers regarding the release dates. SS Rajamouli's RRR was supposed to hit screens on October 13, 2021 clashing with his production Maidaan. He even called the move unethical and even spoke with RRR director S.S. Rajamouli on the issue. Eventually, covid wave interrupted both the film releases, capping the issue.

Valimai, which has crossed the 200 crore mark in just 11 days of its release, is still going strong at the box office. This is his second collaboration with Ajith, after the legal drama Nerkonda Paaravai in 2019 (the Tamil remake of Pink). The duo is also teaming up for the third time with AK61.

Meanwhile, Boney Kapoor is also gearing up for his acting debut with a Ranbir Kapoor-Shraddha Kapoor film. Directed by Luv Ranjan, Boney will essay the role of Ranbir's father in the film. Apart from this, his other production ventures include the long-delayed Maidaan, Milli, and F2 in Hindi. And in Tamil, he is looking forward to Article 15 and Badhaai Ho's remake.