The impertinent debate of South vs Bollywood has now become a household topic of discussion, especially since South films like RRR, KGF 2, Sita Ramam and Kantara sweeping the box office. Gul Panag, who recently made her Telugu debut with The Ghost starring Nagarjuna, weighed in on regional cinema ‘taking over’ Bollywood. She said that the film should be based on the language where it originated. She cited Shah Rukh Khan’s hit film Veer Zara as an example and said that the film should be in Punjabi.
“I don’t know if taking over is the right word here, but I feel when a story is set in a particular part of a country or world, it should be in that language because it also has a subculture of that place. We try to set films in Hindi regardless of the place, whether it is set in Punjab or Rajasthan. It should be subtitled. I think once films like these are dubbed, it becomes cool. Look at Parasite, it became the first non-English film to become the Best Picture at the Oscars. The best picture is the best picture that the jury has found, what does language have to do with it? Films should be made in the language which is most natural to where the story is set,” she told Hindustan Times.
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Adding to this, she questioned why Veer Zara was made in Hindi and not in Punjabi. “Why wasn’t Veer Zaara made in Punjabi if I ask? Punjabi is easily understood by most people. But, it’s in Hindi. At least the portion could have been in Punjabi where they (Shah Rukh Khan and Preity Zinta) were in the village. Of course, when Shah Rukh is in a work environment, I can imagine why he is speaking Hindi,” she added.
Gul Panag also emphasized that language is not as important as the story of a particular film. She explained, “If a film is set in Hyderabad then the most normal thing would be for the film to be in Telugu. But, why not have more audience to watch it, so it gets dubbed in Hindi or English. I understand.”
Meanwhile, The Ghost was released on October 5. The film received mixed reactions from fans. Directed by Praveen Sattaru, The Ghost featured Nagarjuna and Sonal Chauhan in the lead roles along with Anikha Surendran, Manish Chaudhari, Ravi Varma, and Srikanth Iyengar in supporting roles.
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