RRR filmmaker Rajamouli on why South films have earn more than Bollywood: ‘They stopped catering to masses’

Director SS Rajamouli, the box office Baahubali, is the country’s most seminal filmmaker with his recent films pushing the boundaries of what Indian movies can do worldwide. His latest movie RRR went on top Netflix’s Global Top 10 for several weeks and also won praise from its CEO Ted Sarandos, calling it the “craziest thrill ride of a movie you will see this year”. This, after the movie, had broken all box office records by earning close to Rs 1,200 crore at the worldwide box office.

It goes without saying that Rajamouli’s movies are now much-anticipated, not just by the South audience, but across country. In fact, the Baahubali movies were the ones that threw open the door and proved that South films could give Bollywood ones a run for their money and some more.

In a recent interview with the Mint, the filmmaker opened up about why he thought South movies such as RRR and KGF: Chapter 2 have done much better business compared to their Bollywood counterparts.

“They stopped catering to the masses,” he said. The filmmaker said there was a demand for humungous action films with raw emotions and so South films started trending once they were dubbed in social media as well as YouTube. While the Hindi filmmaker were oblivious to this, over time a huge fan base was built for such action films that “exploded” once Baahubali released in 2015.

Rajamouli also talked about his magnum opus. “The Mahabharata has been my long, long, long dream project, but it will take a long time for me to step into that ocean,” said the director, explaining that he would start work on the ambitious project after he does at least three movies. The filmmaker also said that his intention is to tell Indian stories to the rest of the world but without changing his sensibilities to cater to the wide array of audience.