Another clash seems to have been averted between the South Indian film industry and Bollywood. After the whole Kiccha Sudeep – Ajay Devgn row, another star was under the scanner for a comment on Bollywood. Mahesh Babu had recently made a controversial comment in regards to Bollywood and stated that he will not waste time working in Hindi films because they cannot afford him.
The statement brought in a lot of flak for the star. His team immediately issued a statement clarifying his comment. Mahesh has clarified that “he loves cinema and respects all languages. He said he is comfortable doing the film where he has been working. Mahesh said he is happy to see his dream coming true as Telugu cinema is going places,” the press note reads.
Ram Gopal Varma told India Today, “It is his choice as an actor. But I honestly didn’t understand what he meant by Bollywood can’t afford him. I am still unable to figure out what he meant by that because the point is, if you see the recent South Indian films, they were dubbed and released and they made whatever money they did.”
He added, “Also, first of all, Bollywood is not a company. It is a label given by the media. An individual movie company or a production house will ask you to do a film at a particular cost, so how can he generalise Bollywood, I don’t understand that. Bollywood is not a company, so his context is not understood.”
Mahesh Bhatt said, “If Bollywood can’t afford his price, then very good. I wish him all the best. I respect where he comes from. He has talent and he has an ‘X’ value for the talent that he has generated over the years. He is a very successful actor and keeping to his requisite of what he wants to get in terms of gratification of our films, if Bollywood cannot work to his expectations, then there is nothing wrong with it. I wish him all the best. Each one to its own.”
Mahesh Babu even clarified in an interaction with the media and said, “I don’t need to do Hindi films. I can just do a Telugu film and it’ll get seen all over the world – that’s what’s happening right now. You’d want to be in a position to do (only) a Telugu film.” The actor is currently busy with the promotions of Sarkaru Vaari Paata. He will be working with SS Rajamouli for one of his upcoming projects, tentatively titled SSMB 29.
(Featured Image Credits: Instagram @maheshbabu)
