Anupam Kher speaks on why South films are doing better than Bollywood films: They are telling stories and we are selling stars

Actor Anupam Kher has had a great year of films, he is currently celebrating the success of Karthikeya 2, and his film The Kashmir Files became the highest-grossing Hindi film this year. The Kashmir Files, the highest-grossing Hindi film of the year, was produced by actor Anupam Kher, who is currently celebrating the success of Karthikeya 2. For Bollywood, this year has not been easy. Most of the Hindi films released so far this year, including Laal Singh Chaddha by Aamir Khan and Raksha Bandhan by Akshay Kumar, have suffered at the box office. South films, on the other hand, are breaking box-office records.

Anupam Kher discussed this in a recent interview and explained why, in his opinion, South cinema is succeeding better than Bollywood. He says, “I think over there, I’m not differentiating between the two but I think (their) cinema is relevant because they are not aping Hollywood. They are telling stories, over here we are selling stars."

The 67-year-old actor claimed that movies are fundamentally created for the audience and that the instant somebody begins to look down on those viewers, things start to get complicated. "You make things for consumers. (Problem starts) the day you start looking down on consumers, that, ‘we're doing you a favor by making a great film. Now you are watching a great film.’ Greatness is achieved by a collective effort and I have learned by doing films in Telugu...I just did another film in Telugu, I did a film in the Tamil language, and I’m going to do a Malayalam film."

Anupam Kher's next film appearance will be in Kangana Ranaut's Emergency, in which he will portray the late political figure, Jayaprakash Narayan. Along with Vidyut Jammwal, he has also been filming for IB 71.