Dulquer Salmaan defends Bollywood: 'I don’t think any industry must be attacked or praised over another'

After the stupendous success of his Malayalam film Kurup and Telugu movie Sita Ramam, Dulquer Salmaan is now gearing up to create waves in Hindi with R Balki’s Chup: The Revenge of the Artist. Many are also hoping that the Malayalam star’s purple patch continues with his Bollywood venture too as the industry hasn’t had too many hits of late.

Some of the industry’s most anticipated movies such as Laal Singh Chaddha, Prithviraj Samrat and Shamshera had failed at the box office and were also vociferously attacked with #BoycottBollywood trending on social media.

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In a recent interview with Filme Shilmy, Dulquer opened up about what he thought about the North vs South debate. “I don’t think anyone wants to make films that aren’t connecting with the audience. We are all trying to do that,” said the actor, adding that Bollywood being the biggest industry in the country has always been the one that has been catering to a wider audience and adapting to technology quicker.

Dulquer said that the industry has pioneered so many aspects that other industries have followed. “So, I don’t understand why they are so under attack now when historically they have done so much. You can’t negate the entire journey so far,” he said.

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The actor also explained that probably the industry is now going through a correction phase. “Sometimes every industry goes through a correction, sometimes we lose connect with the audience. Every industry goes through it including Malayalam. There was a phase when I was a youngster, I couldn’t connect to the films that were being made at that time. They were very verbose and culturally they would be set in border-towns and have languages that were mixed – Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam.”

Referring to the late 2000s, the actor said that this was a decade when the industry stopped telling rooted stories. “But then we found ourselves. Young filmmakers started telling rooted stories and we actors started connecting to it,” he said.

On the backlash that recent Bollywood films have received prior to the release as well as after it on social media, the actor said, “The problem right now is that there is a large space for people to voice opinions, take out their disagreements or band together with people who disagree with something. It’s sad for me to see any medium or art form getting attacked.”

Dulquer explained that he believes Bollywood being a bigger industry will take a longer time to correct itself based on the opinions of the audience. “Maybe it’s time for some of us to look at what stories we are telling. It’s not permanent. Also, I don’t think any industry must be attacked or praised over another,” he said, adding everyone is part of one big Indian film industry.