In an interview hosted by veteran journalist Rajeev Masand, noted actor Naseeruddin Shah has compared the recent upheaval in the Indian film industry to the demolishing of the Hollywood studio system. He also wondered if fans of Salman Khan will enjoy his masala entertainers in a non-theatre environment.

“It will be interesting to see what will be the reaction of the audience to a Salman Khan film, the audience that whistles and claps and throws coins at the screen and dances in the aisles… What’ll be their reaction when they watch a movie like that at home, alone, or with their children? Will they behave in the same way? I doubt it,” he said.

“This lockdown has inspired so many young filmmakers to attempt interesting, novel subjects without worrying about a producer sitting on their heads asking ‘hero kaun hai’ or ‘gaana daal do’ or do all this crap. I’m optimistic about the future, and really glad that the monstrous Rs 500 crore budget might be a thing of the past,” he added.

Shah was recently seen in the Amazon Prime Video series Bandish Bandits, and will next be seen in the Zee5 film Mee Raqsam.