Actor Manoj Bajpayee has said that the success of films like Pushpa: The Rise, RRR, and KGF: Chapter 2 has scared Bollywood filmmakers, who must take a lesson from it.
In the post-pandemic era, it was Allu Arjun’s Telugu film Pushpa: The Rise that started the trend of south films dominating in the Hindi belt. The film’s Hindi-dubbed version grossed â¹106 crore.
If that was impressive, then SS Rajamouli’s RRR and Yash-starrer Kannada film KGF: Chapter 2 broke new ground. The Hindi version of KGF2 have grossed over â¹340 crore and still running in theatres.
Many, including filmmaker Ram Gopal Varma, have remarked that this has disturbed several people in Bollywood.
Actor Manoj Bajpayee said, "It has sent a shiver down the spine of all the mainstream filmmakers from the Mumbai film industry. They...don't know where to look."
"This is a lesson for Mumbai industry's mainstream filmmakers on how to make mainstream cinema," added Manoj.
"They don't dumb [their films]...down for the audience," stated Manoj.
Manoj was last seen on screen in the ZEE5 film Dial 100 and the Amazon Prime Video series The Family Man, both of which released last year.
Incidentally, his co-star in The Family Man was Samantha Ruth Prabhu, who also had a special dance number in Pushpa.
Manoj is currently working on two films--Despatch and Gulmohar--and also the third season of The Family Man.