North-South Debate: Manoj Bajpayee Says Dividing Cinema Into Regions Is Unfair, It Belongs To All

2022 was a year of numerous debates. The infamous nepotism debate wasn't even over when the entertainment industry started discussing the North v/s. South Cinema's phenomenon.?

While films made in the South proved to be blockbusters, several high-budget and anticipated Bollywood films like Jersey and Shamshera proved big duds.?

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Following the South's groundbreaking success, the term "Pan-India Films" has penetrated everyone's vocabulary.?Capturing the interest of the Indian public, blockbusters like KGF, RRR, and Pushpa managed to aggressively compete with contemporary Hindi language films.

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Back-to-back Shamshera and Dhaakad's box office failures only highlight the country's transforming entertainment landscape. Manoj Bajpayee, a veteran actor, discussed the Pan-India cinema phenomenon.

In an interview with ETimes, the 'Family Man' actor expressed his opinion on why cinema must never be divided.?The actor said,?

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"It has never been north or south. For me, India is from Kashmir to Kanyakumari and not from Kashmir to Delhi. That’s how I see India. If Telugu films do well, I will be just as proud as when a Hindi movie does well. Dividing cinema into regions is not fair. It is good that this discussion has started because we now conclude that cinema belongs to everyone in India."

The actor explained that, whether a film is in Tamil, Marathi, or Malayalam if it is dubbed for a broad range of audiences, it instantly becomes a "Pan-Indian" movie.

The audience, which may come from anywhere in the country, was also mentioned because he carefully chose his projects.

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Bajpayee added, "Whenever I have chosen a film, I have always thought that my audience is everywhere. I felt very fortunate when The Family Man found its audience in all parts of the country. People who speak different languages watched Family Man, and they liked it. And this is how it should be. Cinema does not belong to one region. Cinema belongs to everyone."

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On the work front, Bajpayee has a packed year ahead of him with exciting projects like Gulmohar, Kanu Behl's Despatch, and Joram with his Bhosle director, Devashish Makhija, Pahaadon Mein, and Soup, a Netflix series.?

(To get the latest updates from?Bollywood?and?Hollywood, keep reading?Indiatimes Entertainment.)