Ranveer Singh, Vijay Deverakonda bat for erasing line between North and South

The first half of 2022 hasn’t seen the release of many Hindi blockbusters, and films that have made an impact – such as RRR (2022) and KGF Chapter 2 (2022) – have largely come from the South. This has led to a huge North-South debate but actors from both sides of the Vindhyas are striving to be perceived as one big industry.

Recently, when actor Dhanush was in Mumbai for a press conference for his Hollywood film The Gray Man (2022), the actor spoke extensively about wanting to blur the lines between North and South cinema. He said, “It will be great if we function together and make movies for everybody; not just for the South audience or North audience. Every film is a national film, not a regional film. People watch South films; we watch North films. I would appreciate it if they call us Indian actors, rather than South actors or North actors.”

Another major plea for unity was made by Ranveer Singh, who was present at the trailer launch of Liger (2022) which is Vijay Deverakonda’s maiden Hindi film. The bonding between Singh and Vijay was hard to miss at the event.

Singh exchanged T-shirts with Vijay by the end of the event. “Inko kya introduce karna sir, yeh toh yahan dilo mein base huye hai [There’s no need to introduce Vijay, he’s already there in the hearts of the people here]," the actor said.

Talking extensively about overcoming geographical barriers, Vijay said, “I love telling stories and love telling it to a huge auditorium and what bigger auditorium than the whole of India? So, I see this film as a big dream of mine coming true.”

The actor also emphasized the fact that actors from the South have always been working in the Hindi film industry and vice versa. “First of all, I need to thank Ranveer for being here and being the bomb of energy," Vijay said.

"But, the film industry has always been one where technicians from the South were working in the North. Anil Kapoor sir made his debut in a South film. Sridevi ma’am worked so much in the South. So, both industries have been always working with each other. It’s just now that we’re making cinema that the entire country is watching and it’s about time that happened. I look forward to the day where it’s not North and South but just Indian cinema and Indian actor.”

South films made with a pan-India vision have also made a dent in the box office when created in collaboration with big production houses from the North. It all started with the fantasy opus Baahubali: The Beginning (2015), which Karan Johar’s Dharma Productions decided to present in Hindi. KGF Chapter 1 (2018) and its sequel were backed by Farhan Akhtar and Ritesh Sidhwani’s Excel Entertainment.

The adage ‘the more the merrier’ seems to be apt when it comes to big names from the North and South joining forces. One hopes that the gulf is bridged once and for all.