Kiccha Sudeep: When Hindi films released all over India, no one complained; we enjoyed them, now, they are enjoying our films

Kannada actor-filmmaker Sudeep is not one to mince words; in fact, he is quite the straight arrow, which makes him a favourite for media houses when discussions about issues pertaining to cinema come up. Recently, Sudeep completed 27 years in cinema and was the guest at a town hall conducted by CNN-News18, where a lot of the conversation revolved around Kannada cinema’s current pan-Indian popularity, if it is just a passing phase and if Bollywood will bounce back, among others.

Addressing the north-south divide and the online discussions about the novelty surrounding south films bound to wane at some point, Sudeep said that the formula to sustain whatever success one is enjoying is to keep doing what’s helping you win; no one’s stopping anyone. The actor-filmmaker reckoned that there is no point saying this is a phase and that the industry should instead focus on doing what will let them win. He also downplayed the whole debate about industries trying to outdo/dominate each other. According to Sudeep, no one is trying to dominate. “We are just trying to do films and they are doing well, by virtue of which industries are getting a name,” he said.

Sudeep then went ahead and pointed out how traditionally, Hindi films have always had the benefit of releasing all over the country and no one ever objecting to it. In fact, people were enjoying these films and not plotting how to get the better of the Hindi film industry. Today, he added, the difference is that the north Indian belt is enjoying films from down south. Sudeep then pointed out that any discussion about this north-south divide is happening among netizens and other parties not involved with the industry itself. “None of us are debating any of it. We are just putting on our makeup and doing films,” he said.