Actor Manoj Bajpayee is the latest name from the Hindi film industry to acknowledge how the success of films from the south film industries has affected those in Bollywood. In a recent interaction, the actor claimed that the success of films like KGF: Chapter 2, RRR, and Pushpa: The Rise has “sent a shiver down the spine” of Bollywood filmmakers. The actor also spoke about what makes these films more successful than their Bollywood counterparts. Also read: Ram Gopal Varma asks if ‘north stars are insecure, jealous of south stars’ because of KGF Chapter 2 success

In the post-pandemic era, it was Allu Arjun’s Telugu film Pushpa: The Rise that started the trend of south films dominating in the Hindi belt. The film’s Hindi-dubbed version grossed ?106 crore. If that was impressive, then SS Rajamouli’s RRR and Yash-starrer Kannada film KGF: Chapter 2 broke new ground. The Hindi versions of both films have grossed over ?300 crore each and are still running in theatres. Many, including filmmaker Ram Gopal Varma, have remarked that this has disturbed several people in Bollywood.

Talking about the success of these south films, Manoj Bajpayee told Delhi Times, “Itni blockbuster ho rahi hai (there are so many blockbusters)… forget about Manoj Bajpayee and the likes of me for a minute, it has sent a shiver down the spine of all the mainstream filmmakers from the Mumbai film industry. They really don’t know where to look.”